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OTSEGO COUNTY 



New York 



Geographical ^i^ Historical 



P'ROM THE EARLIEST SETTLEMENT 
TO THE PKESENT TIME. 



WITH COUNTY AND TOWNSHIP MAPS 
FROM ORIGINAL DRAWINGS 



By 
ED WIN F. BA CON, Ph. B. 



ONEONTA, N. Y. 

The Oneonta Heuald, Publieberi 

1902. 






THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

T'vo CopiEf! Recsived 

SEP. 22 1902 

COPVBIOHT ENTRY 

CLASS «- XXa No. 
cow B. 



Copyrighted 

by Edwin F. Biicon 

IDO-J 



PREFACE 



There is a growing demand for the means of local geo- 
graphical and historical study in schools, and this little 
mannal is intended to meet this demand for the schools of Otsego 
County. It was originally prepared in manuscript for classes in 
the Oneonta State Normal school and now, with the approval 
and encouragement of the school commissioners and teachers of 
the county, is offered in its present form. 

In its preparation I have had the pleasure of visiting every 
townshiiD in the county, thus gaining information at first hand 
and from the most reliable sources. For events previous to our 
time, I have found excellent material. The history of the 
county from the earliest times to 1878, by D, Hamilton Hurd, 
is very complete to that date, and I have, with permission, 
freely quoted from it. In addition to this I have had access to 
Campbell's "Annals of Tryon County," Beardsley's "Remi- 
niscences and Anecdotes," and Halsey's "Old New York Fron- 
tier,"^ — three works of surpassing interest, together with a num- 
ber of local sketches, including Sawyer's "History of Cherry 
Valley," Ward's "Annals of Richfield," CamxDbell's "History 
of Oneonta, " Shaw's "History of Cooperstown, " Halsey's 
"Pioneers of Unadilla, " and Hotchkin's "History of Mary- 
land. ' ' I am also indebted to the supervisors of the several 
townships and to others for careful revision of the township 
maps and of the text, by which the greatest accuracy has been 
secured. 

While making this study, an opinion previously formed has 
been essentially modified. That opinion was that farming in 
Otsego county had, owing to western competition and other 
causes, ceased to be profitable ; that there were many abandoned 
farms, and that the rising generation thought only of getting 
away from the old homestead and seeking employment else- 
where. All such views must be due to the depression of former 
years, for they are no longer true to the facts. The increase in 
rural prosiDerity evident throughout the state is equally apparent 



PREB'ACE 

in this region. Owing to the tendency of population toward 
the villages there are some abandoned farmhouses, but there 
are no abandoned farm lands in the county, and the intelligent 
and thrifty farmer is everywhere doing well. This improvement 
is most evident in the line of dairying, which is now the leading 
and most profitable industry. 

Otsego county has a most interesting and honorable record. 
Its early settlers were of good New England and old England 
stock, and their numerous descendants here and in the west, to 
which many of them have gone, must read with interest the 
record of pioneer struggles, of victory over savage and foreign 
foes, of heroic strife for the Union, of modern culture and en- 
terprise. 

The study of geography properly commences around the 
home. The perspective of world study is better from this stand- 
point, and the children who become thoroughly interested in it 
will go on to the study of their own and foreign countries with a 
clearer idea of its nature and importance. The prevailing inter- 
est in local geography is therefore to be encouraged by every 
means, and it is hoped that this little contribution to it may 
prove acceptable to the teachers of the county. 



While primarily intended as a school text book, the require- 
ments of the business world have also been kept in view in the 
preparation of this work. The county and township maps, all 
from original drawings, are thoroughly up to date, and the de- 
scriptive text concerning routes of travel, population, post-offices, 
newspapers, business and manufacturing interests, express, tel- 
graph and telephone facilities, commend it to all classes, while 
its business-like quality can in no wise impair its usefulness in 
the class-room. 

E. F. B. 

Oneonta, New York. August, 1902. 






Otsego County 



Part I— General History 




Location and Political Origin. 

TSEGO COUNTY is favorably situated upon the 

highlands at the head waters of the Susquehanna 

river, a little southeast of the center of the state, and 

contains 1,038 square miles. It is bounded by the 

following named counties : On the north by Oneida, Herkimer 

and Montgomery ; on the east by Schoharie ; on the south by 

Delaware ; and on the west by Chenango and Madison. 

It was originally a part of Albany county, which was or- 
ganized in 1683, and which covered a large section of the state, 
and the whole of the present state of Vermont. In the year 
1772 Tryon county was set off from Albany county. In 1784 
the name Tryon was changed to Montgomery and in 1791 Otsego 
was set off from Montgomery with Cooperstown as its county 
seat. As thus formed the county, although with its present 
dimensions, was divided into only two townships, viz : Otsego 
lying to the west of Otsego Lake and the Susquehanna, and 
Cherry Valley to the east of those waters. With the increase 
of population these townships were again and again subdivided 
until the number is now twenty-four, as shown in the accom- 
panying map. 

Natural Features. 

The surface presents a great variety of hill and dale with 
many beautiful landscapes. In every township are found ele- 
vations of from 250 to 500 feet, among which flow a great num- 
ber of small streams. The greatest elevations are in Cherry 
Valley townshixD, where several hills rise more than 2,000 feet 



8 GENERAL HISTORY 

above tide. The most important water courses are the Unadilla 
river, which constitutes the western boundary, the Susquehanna 
flowing down centrally from Otsego Lake and constituting a 
portion of the southern boundary, Wharton and Butternuts 
creeks, flowing into the Unadilla river ; Otego, Schenevus and 
Cherry Valley creeks flowing into the Susquehanna, and Oaks 
creek, the outlet of Canadarago Lake, flowing also into the Sus- 
quehanna. Otsego Lake, the largest body of water in this 
region, lies within the townships of Otsego, Springfield and 
Middlefield. It is eight miles long and about one mile wide. 
It lies about 1,200 feet above sea level, and is surrounded l^y 
hills that rise from 400 to 500 feet above its surface. It is a 
lake of unsurpassed beauty, and many excursions are made upon 
it by means of steamers and other pleasure boats. Its banks 
are also dotted with summer camps and cottages. This lake has 
been made famous as the scene of Cooper's novels, "The Deer- 
slayer," and "The Pioneer." 

The Six Nations. 

This region, before the advent of the white man, has been 
described as an ' 'Indian Paradise. ' ' It was a superb hunting 
ground, the home of the deer, the elk, the moose, the bear, the 
otter, the martin, the wolf, the fox, the squirrel, and of numer- 
ous water fowl, while salmon and other fish abounded in the 
rivers and lakes. 

The natives belonged to a famous Indian league called by 
the English the "Six Nations," though the French applied to 
them the general term "Iroquois." 

It is well to know something of the origin and history of 
this league, for the colonial settlers throughout the state had 
much to do with it. It is supposed to have been formed about 
the year 1600, and consisted at first of five tribes — the Onon- 
dagas, Oneidas, Mohawks, Cayugas, and Senecas. Later it re- 
ceived the Tusc&roras, who came from North Carolina. It was 
with the Mohawks and Tuscaroras that the white settlers had 
most to do. These Indians were fierce and aggressive. From 
the far east to the Mississippi they were known and dreaded by 
other tribes, none of whom were able to resist them. "I have 
been told," says Colden, "by old men in New England who re- 
member the time when the Mohawks made war upon the 



GENERAL HISTORY 

Indians, that, as soon as a single Mohawk was discovered in 
their country, the Indians raised the cry from hill to hill, 'A 
Mohawk! a Mohawk!' upon which they fled like sheep before 
wolves without attempting to make the least resistance." 

The first whites -who came in contact with the tribes of this 
confederacy were the French, who lived in peace with them, and 
the Indians aided them against the English in the "Old 
French war" (1754-1763). Later, when the English had tri- 
umphed over the French, they made friendly treaties with these 
Indians and thus received their assistance against the rebellious 
colonists. And so it happened that in the war of the Revolu- 
tion the English, the Tories and the Indians were combined 
against the patriots who were fighting for independence. The 
scattered settlements were almost defenceless against this strong 
combination of enemies, and all the more so because very 
many of the best men were enlisted in the colonial army and 
thus were far from the homes that so much needed them for de- 
fence. All the horrors of that x^eriod resulted from this condi- 
tion of things, but the Indians, from their standpoint, had a good 
excuse for making war upon the patriot settlers, for x^revious to 
the war they had made a treaty offensive and defensive with the 
English, and as allies were bound to join them in their war 
ui3on the "rebels." 

But at the close of the Revolution the poor Indians paid a 
terrible penalty for being on the wrong side in that struggle. 
At first the feeling against them was so strong that they came 
near being destroyed or driven out of the state, but through the 
influence of Washington and others they were assigned to reser- 
vations, and measures were taken for their civilization and edu- 
cation. The few Indians now remaining in the state are the 
descendants of those fierce warriors of the olden time. 

The First White Settlements. 

According to Halsey, "white men appear to have been in 
the upper Susquehanna valley in 1616, or about one hundred 
and sixty years before the revolution. They came as explorers 
and then as traders. After them in the next century came mis- 
sionaries to the Indians. Finally, in 1769, arrived surveyors."* 

*"The Pioneers of TJnadilla Village," by Fraiici.^! W. Halsey. 



10 GENERAL HISTORY 

The first grant of land to white settlers in this region was 
made in the year 1738, and consisted of about 8,000 acres, 
located in the northeast part of the present county of Otsego. 
It was granted by George Clark, the lieutenant governor of New 
York, to four men — John Lindesay, Jacob Roseboom, Lenelet 
Ganesvoort, and Sybrant VanSchaiok. The originator and 
leader of this settlement, Mr. Lindesay, was a Scotchman, a man 
of wealth and culture. The others, judging from their names, 
must have been of the old Dutch stock. Their settlement was 
at Cherry Valley. 

These pioneers, with their families, suffered many priva- 
tions during the first years of their settlement, and in the winter 
of 1740-41, would have perished but for the assistance of a 
friendly Mohawk who came to them from the Mohawk valley on 
snow shoes and, learning their destitute condition, made repeated 
trips to his home, bringing back provisions. This kindness 
was the result of Mr. Lindesay 's generous treatment of the 
Indians from the beginning. He had made them his fast 
friends Eind received in turn the same kindness that William 
Penn and all other settlers experienced who were just and friendly 
to these trusting children of nature. 

In 1741 the little settlement was increased by the arrival of 
five families originally from the north of Ireland. The heads 
of these families were Rev. Samuel Dunlop, David Ramsay, 
William Gallt, James Campbell and William Dickson. They 
added about thirty persons to the community. During the next 
ten years only four new families came. Mr. Lindesay had re- 
tired from the settlement, having gone into the military service, 
and trouble had broken out with the Indians so that progress 
was retarded by constant fear of an Indian war. In 1762 there 
were only eight families, and during the French and Indian war 
it became necessary to build a fort at Cherry Valley, at which a 
company of soldiers was stationed. But no serious hostilities 
took place, and at the beginning of the Revolution the settlement 
numbered three hundred persons. 

The town of Edmeston was settled about 1770 by Col. Ed- 
meston, a former officer of the English army, who received a 
tract of 10,000 acres for his services in the French war. 

Hartwick dates from a grant made to John Christopher 
Hartwiok, in the year 1761. 



GENERAL HISTORY 11 

In Laurens the first settlement was made by Joseph Ma> all 
in 1774. 

Middlefield was settled in 1755 by Wm. Cook and others. 
In 1773 Ebenezer Knapp from Dutchess county settled on But- 
ternuts creek in the town of Morris. 

Increase Thurston and Benjamin Lull settled in New Lis- 
bon in 1773. 

Henry Schramling and families bearing the names of Young 
and Alger settled in Oneonta township before the Revolution, 
but the exact date is not known. 

There were several other small settlements within the present 
limits of the county before the Revolution, as at Milford, Ex- 
eter, Unadilla, and Richfield Springs; but they assumed no 
importance until after the war, 

Otsego County During the Revolution. 

Up to the time of the Revolution the settlers in this region 
had managed to keep on tolerably good terms with the Indians, 
but with the outbreak of the war of independence a great change 
occurred. It was a question which side the Indians would take 
in the impending conflict. They would perhaps have sided with 
the colonists or remained neutral had it not been for the oppos- 
ing influence of one man, Sir William Johnson, who had long 
been among them as the agent of the British government, and 
who had dealt very justly with them. This man found means 
of uniting five of the "Six Nations" against the patriot settlers. 
The Oneidas, although friendly to the British, refused to fight 
against the colonies and consequently their territory was ravaged 
by the tories. Throughout the struggle the Indians, encour- 
aged by the English loyalists and tories, carried on a merciless 
warfare against the scattered and feeble settlements of central 
New York and Pennsylvania. 

In July, 1778, occurred the great massacre of Wyoming, a 
village on the Susquehanna river in Pennsylvania, and in the 
following November a like fate befell the settlement at Cherry 
Valley. This latter disaster might have been averted if the 
warnings given had been promptly heeded by the ofiicer in com- 
mand of the small garrison stationed at that place, for a fort 
had been built and all the inhabitants might have been brought 
within it. But the commander, Col. Alden, seemed to doubt 



12 GENERAL HISTORY 

the truth of the warnings although they came in an official 
communication from the officer in command at Fort Schuyler. 
He was one of the first to be killed as he retreated, bravely de- 
fending himself, toward the fort. In this massacre thirty- two 
of the settlers together with sixteen soldiers acting as a guard 
outside of the fort were slain. The fort itself, bein^ defended 
with cannon, held out against the several assaults made u^Don it. 
Failing in these attacks, the savages set fire to all the dwellings 
outside the fortifications, and retreated down the Cherry Valley 
creek taking with them as prisoners about seventy of the inhab- 
itants, though nearly all of these were soon released and per- 
mitted to return in safety. The military post was maintained 
until the next summer, when it was abandoned. A second at- 
tack and massacre in 1780 compelled the remaining inhabitants 
to flee for safety, and the place was thus entirely deserted until 
after the close of the war. 

These and other Indian massacres aroused the general gov- 
ernment to an act of terrible retribution. A campaign of de- 
struction was organized under the command of Generals Sulli- 
van and Clinton, who received orders to attack and destroy 
without mercy all the villages of the hostile tribes of the state. 
General Sullivan, who was chief in command, first marched from 
his camp on the Hudson (May 1st, 1779), to the scene of the 
late massacre in the Wyoming valley. From thence he moved 
to Tioga Point at the confluence of the Chemung and Susque- 
hanna rivers and built a fort which he called Fort Sullivan. In 
the meantime Gen. Clinton with 1800 men ascended the Mo- 
hawk river, from the Hudson to Canajoharie. He thence made 
the portage to Otsego Lake with the intention of descending 
the Susquehanna river to Tioga Point, there to form a junction 
with Gen. Sullivan. He had transported a large number of 
boats across the country from the Mohawk for this purpose. 
In these he descended the lake, but found the river too low to 
float them, upon which he devised a very ingenious means of 
raising the water. He dammed uj) the outlet of the lake until 
the water rose nearly three feet, then having all in readiness, 
and his boats distributed along the banks, he cut the dam and 
so safely floated down on the swelling current. 

The Indians along the course of the river were greatly as- 
tonished at this phenomenon. First the water fell, and then 
suddenly and without any visible cause, rose, bearing upon its 



GENERAL HISTORY IS 

bosom a hostile fleet. They regarded this as an interposition of 
the Great Spirit in favor of their enemies, and so fled in terror 
from their villages, leaving the invaders to make their journey 
unmolested. Only a portion of the force kept to the boats, the 
greater part marching along the banks of the river. The junc- 
tion with Sullivan was safely made and the combined forces, 
now numbering 3,200 men, advanced northward on a mission 
of devastation through the rich Indian settlements of the Che- 
mung and Genesee valleys. All the villages were burned, the 
numerous fine orchards cut down, and immense quantities of 
corn destroyed. The Indians, after making a brave stand and 
being defeated at Newtown, on the present site of Elmira, fled to 
the protection of the British forts at Niagara, around which 
they encamped and where they spent the winter in great dis- 
tress, but their spirit was not broken and they were soon again 
upon the warpath, continuing their depredations upon the white 
settlements until the close of the Revolution. 

But the field of conflict was changed from tlie Susquehanna 
to the Mohawk and Schoharie, for on the upjDer Susquehanna 
there remained nothing to fight for and no one to fight. Suc- 
cessive conquests by both parties had given the whole region 
back to nature and to the wild beasts. Almost the only human 
beings who now traversed it were those who followed the an- 
cient trails on their way to the new battle grounds beyond. 

It was thus that Otsego county, which had nearly a dozen 
white settlements at the beginning of the Revolution, was an un- 
inhabited wilderness at its close, but with j)eace a new era was 
soon to dawn upon it. 

The Fokmation of Townships. 

Gen. Sullivan's devastating march made Central New York 
better known to the whites than ever before, and as soon as re- 
leased from military service many of his ofiicers and men has- 
tened to return as peaceful settlers to a region through 
which they had so recently passed as destroyers. A great tide 
of emigration also set in from the New England states. 

The settlements made before the war and abandoned during 
the Indian troubles were also quickly revived as soon as peace 
returned, and from that time the population rapidly increased, 
as is apparent from the formation of new townships immedi- 



14 GENERAL HISTORY 

ately following the organization of the county in 1791. Be- 
tween that date and the end of the century, nine years, eleven 
new townships were formed by subdividing the original ones, 
viz: Burlington, Butternuts, Exeter, Middlefield, Milford, 
Pittsfield, Plainfield, Kichfield, Springfield, Unadilla, and 
Worcester. Between 1800 and 1810 seven more townships were 
formed, viz: Decatur, Edmeston, Hartwick, Laurens, Maryland, 
New Lisbon, and Westford. Otego^ was formed in 1822, and 
Oneonta in 1830. Morris was taken from Butternuts in 1849, 
and Roseboom from Cherry Valley in 1854. 

rOPUI.ATION, 

The population of Otsego county increased with wonderful 
rapidity from its organization in 1791 up to about 1830, since 
which time it has remained nearly stationary, although some of 
the villages have gained. In 1790 the population of the county 
was 1,702, in 1800 it was 21,634, in 1810 it was 38,802, in 1820 
it was 44,856, and in 1830 it was 51,372. The largest popula- 
tion recorded at any census was in 1880, when it was 51,397, or 
twenty-five more than in 1830. Since then the villages have 
gained about six thousand, while the rural ijojjulation has lost 
more than this number. In 1890 the population was 50,861, 
and in 1900 it was 48,939. 

Otsego County in the Reukllion. 

Otsego contributed its full quota of men to the union cause. 
The total number of enlistments credited to the county was 
2,925, distributed among 129 regiments in all departments of 
the service — infantry, cavalry and artillery. The largest pro- 
portion of Otsego men were found in the 51st, 76th, 121st, and 
152d regiments of state infantry, in the 3d cavalry, in the 1st, 
2d and 3d artillery, and in the 1st engineer corps. 87 enlisted 
in the U. S. regular army and 146 in the navy. In addition to 
these, 526 are recorded as enlisting without mention of the regi- 
ment or branch of the service to which they were assigned. 

The bombardment and capture of Fort Sumter in Charles- 
ton harbor in April, 1861, was the real beginning of the war. 
It was immediately followed by the President's call for 75,000 
volunteers to defend the government and suppress the rebellion. 
To this call Otsego made a prompt response. A company 



GENERAL HISTORY 15 

was organized at Cherry Valley of which George W. Tucker- 
man was captain and Egbert Olcott and Cleveland J. Campbell 
lieutenants. It was however not quite soon enough to be ac- 
cej)ted for that service. Those were days of prompt enlistment, 
and the required number had been received before the Cherry 
Valley comjDany rejported at Albany. Its members joined other 
companies a little later. 

The next organized movement in the county was also at 
Cherry Valley, where the 39tli regiment of New York State Na- 
tional Guards had for many years been quartered. In Septem- 
ber, 1861, this regiment authorized its Colonel, John D. Shaul, 
to offer its services for the war. The next month Gen. George 
E. Danforth, the commander of the brigade to which the 39th 
belonged, came to Cherry Valley and established a military jjost. 
The 39th was then recruited and organized for the war to the 
number of six companies with a total of 500 men. In this in- 
complete form it was ordered to Albany, and its several com- 
panies assigned to other regiments, there being no time to wait 
for it to fill up its ranks and go as a unit. Two companies, 
those of Captains E. N. Hanson and N. Bowdish, were trans- 
ferred to the 3d New York artillery, and those of Captains A. 
L. Swan, J. E. Cook and J. W. Young to the 76th infantry. 
The following are brief sketches of some of the regiments that 
contained Otsego county men : 

The Fifty-First. — Company I of this regiment was recruited 
principally in Otsego county. It saw hard and heroic service 
both in the east and west. At Antietam the regiment lost 
ninety-five men in five minutes. At Fredericksburg, in Sum- 
ner's corps, it lost six color bearers and eighty men. Its flag 
was the first to wave over Jackson, Miss. Of 1,200 men who went 
out in this regiment, only 200 returned at the close of the war. 

The Seventy-Sixth. — The majority of the men of this regi- 
ment were from Cortland county, but three companies were 
from Otsego. Its first commander was Nelson W. Green of 
Cortland, and the second William P. Wainright, under whose 
strict discipline it became famous. It served three years and 
took part in nearly all the great battles in Virginia, especially 
distinguishing itself and suffering heavy losses at Gainesville, 
South Mountain and the second Bull Run. At Gettysburg it 
formed part of the first army corps under General Reynolds, 



16 GENERAL HISTORY 

and was in that terrible struggle on Willougliby Run, where on 
the first day the fate of the army depended upon holding the 
position while other divisions moved to take possession of 
Cemetery Ridge. The 76th went into this action with 348 men 
and 27 officers, and in half an hour it lost two officers killed 
and sixteen wounded, 30 men killed and 116 wounded. It was 
here that General Reynolds was killed. This corps was splen- 
didly commanded by three men who in succession fell in battle 
while leading it, viz : Reynolds, at Gettysburg ; Wadsworth, in 
the Wilderness, and Rice at ISpottsylvania, all within a single 
year, and the last named after being in command but two days. 
On the expiration of three years for which the 76th enlisted, 
165 of its members re-enlisted and were transferred to the 147th, 
an Oswego regiment, with whom they served until the close of 
the war. 

The One Hundred and Twenty-First was recruited in Ot- 
sego and Herkitner counties. Its first colonel was Hon. Richard 
Franchot of Morris, and its first Major was Egbert Olcott of 
Cherry Valley. Its second Colonel was Emory Upton, one of 
the ablest and bravest officers in the service, a graduate of West 
Point, and iinder him the regiment became famous. The rec- 
ords of the war department credit this regiment with taking 
part in 25 battles, including Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, The 
Wilderness, Bpottsylvania, Petersburg and the final series of en- 
gagements that ended with the surrender of Lee and the close of 
the war. It had 14 officers and 212 men killed in battle, 27 
officers and 596 men wounded. On the Gettysburg battlefield 
has been erected a monument commemorative of the part taken 
by the 121st in that battle. It is of Quincy granite and bronze, 
and is surmounted by the figure of a soldier. It bears, besides 
the historical inscriptions, a bronze medallion of Geiieral Emory 
Upton, life size. This regiment contained 483 Otsego county 
men. 

The One Hundred and Fifty-Second : This regiment, like 
the 121st, was raised in the twentieth senatorial district, which 
comprised the counties of Otsego and Herkimer. It was re- 
cruited at Camp Schuyler across the Mohawk from the village 
of Herkimer and was mustered into the United States service 
at that place October 15, 1862. It was immediately sent to Vir- 
ginia, where it was actively engaged until the close of the war, 



G ENERA L HISTOR Y 17, 

except during the summer of 1868, when it was sent to New 
York city to aid in the suppression of the draft riots. Its 
hardest service occurred after General Grant took command of 
the Army of the Potomac. It was then engaged in the battles 
of the Wilderness, at Cold Harbor, and at the siege of 
Petersburg. Its ranks were so much depleted by sickness and 
losses in battle that at the end of June, 1864, it was reduced to 
145 enlisted men and 11 officers. It took part in the final events 
that resulted in the surrender of General Lee, and on May 2, 
1865, it marched through Richmond. It was mustered out July 
13th, of that year. 

Among its officers from this county were Col. Alonzo Fergu- 
son of Oneonta, Cleveland J. Campbell of Cherry Valley, adjutant ; 
George W. Ernst jr. of Otsego, quartermaster; William R. Wall 
of Springfield, captain; Elias Young, first lieutenant; and John 
Land, second lieutenant of Company D ; Edmund C. Gilbert of 
Butternuts, captain, and Josiah Hinds of Otsego, first lieuten- 
ant of Company G ; Uriah B. Kendall of Hartwick, captain ; 
William R. Patrick, first lieutenant ; William I. Hopkins, sec- 
ond lieutenant of Company H ; Alonzo A. Bingham of Otsego, 
cajDtain; Charles Hamilton of Roseboom, first lieutenant; Ed- 
ward W. Butler of Roseboom, second lieutenant of Company I. 
The regiment belonged to the first brigade, second division, 
second army corps, under the command of General Warren. Of 
its men, over 400 were from Otsego county. 

The Third Cavalry, called the "VanAllen Cavalry," in 
honor of its first Colonel, was composed of men from Otsego, 
Delaware, Schoharie, and other counties. Its second commander 
was Colonel Simon H. Mix, one of the best officers in the ser- 
vice, who was killed in an engagement on the Weldon railroad. 
This regiment did good service around Richmond and in North 
Carolina. It contained 143 men from Otsego county. In July. 
1865, it was consolidated with the 1st Mounted Rifles, and des- 
ignated as the "Fourth Provisional Cavalry." 

First Light Artillery. — This regiment was organized at El- 
mira, but contained 78 Otsego men. Its first commander was 
Colonel Guilford D. Bailey who was killed at Fair Oaks while 
spiking some cannon that had to be abandoned to the enemy. 
He was succeeded by Colonel Charles S. Wainwright, who was 
promoted to Brigadier General in 1864. This regiment was in 



18 EN ERA L HISTOR Y 

battle at Williamsburg, Manassas, Cliaucellorsville and other 
places. 

Second Light Artillery : This regiment was organized in 
New York city, but was largely recruited from the interior of 
the state, including 150 men from Otsego county. Its battle 
flag was inscribed with the names of Second Bull Eun,Spottsyl- 
vania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Reams Station and other places. 

The Third Light Artillery entered the service as the Nine- 
teenth Infantry Regiment under Col. John S. Clark and was 
transferred to the Artillery in 1863 and in this capacity served 
with great credit under Scholield, being attached to the 23rd 
corps and afterwards on the Atlantic coast, at Hilton Head, 
Fort Macon, Kingston, Goldsboro, and Charleston. It con- 
tained 66 men from Otsego county. 

The First Engineer Corps : This was a body of 1,800 picked 
men from all parts of the country under the command of Col. 
E. W. Serrell. Companies G and I contained about 100 Otsego 
men. It was employed in engineer work in Virginia and the 
Carolinas, and especially in the siege of Forts Sumter and 
Wagner in Charleston harbor, where it planted the cannon known 
as the "Swamp Angel" with which the walls of Fort Sumter 
were battered down. 

The G. A. R. Posts. 

There are twelve G. A. R. posts in the county, namely : 

Cooperstown, L. C. Turner Post, No. 26. 
Cherry Valley, Emory Upton Post, No. 224. 
Gilbertsville, W. A. Musson Post, No. 223. 
Hartwick, H. N. Duroe Post, No. 653. 
Morris, Geo. Kidder Post, No. 61. 
Oneonta, E. D. Farmer Post, No. 119. 
Otego, C. A. Shepherd Post, No. 189. 
Portlandville, Olcott Post, No. 522. 
Richfield Springs, Weldon Post, No. 256. 
Schenevus, Brown Post, No. 15. 
Unadilla, C. C. Siver Post, No. 124. 
Worcester, Johnson Post, No. 25. 



GENERA L HISTOR Y 19 

Villages and Postofficks. 

The following is a complete list of villages and hamlets of 
Otsego county. There is a postoffice at each place except 
where some other place is designated. Thus, Bowerstown (mail 
Cooperstown. ) 

Name Township Pojiuhition 

Bourne Exeter 20 

Bowerstown (mail Cooperstown) Middlefield 70 

Brighton (mail Richfield Springs) Richfield 48 

Burlington Burlington Ill 

Burlington Flats Burlington 212 

Center Valley Cherry Valley 107 

Chase . . • *• Hartwick 26 

Chaseville Maryland 123 

Clintonville (mail Milford) Hartwick 

Cherry Valley Cherry Valley 772 

Colliersville Milford 130 

Cooperstown Otsego 2368 

Cooperstown Junction Milford 115 

Decatur Decatur 91 

East Springfield Springfield 190 

East Worcester Worcester 430 

Edmeston Edmeston 749 

Elk Creek Maryland 52 

Exeter Exeter 60 

Fly Creek Otsego 238 

Garrattsville New Lisbon 253 

Gilbertsville Butternuts 476 

Hartwick Hartwick 605 

Hartwick Seminary Hartwick 124 

Hope Factory (P. O. Index) Otsego 130 

Hyde Park (mail Index) Hartwick 150 

Ketchum Pittsfield 19 

Laurens Laurens 233 

Lena New Lisbon 15 

Lentsville Middlefield 36 

Maple Grove Morris 44 

Maple Valley Westford. 29 

Maryland Maryland 227 

Middlefield Middlefield 243 



20 GENERAL HISTORY 

Name Township Population 

Middlefield Center Middlefield 108 

Middle Village (mail East Springfield). Springfield 60 

Milford Milford 532 

Milford Center (mail Portlandville) . . . Milford 100 

Monticello (P. O. Richfield) Eiclifield 218 

Morris Morris 553 

Mount Vision Laurens 300 

New Lisbon New Lisbon 169 

North Edmeston Edmeston 15 

Oaksville Otsego 149 

Oneonta Oneonta 7117 

Oneonta Plains (mail Oneonta) Oneonta 100 

Otego Otego' 658 

Otsdawa Otego 62 

Patent Burlington 23 

Phoenix Mills Middlefield 150 

Pierstown (mail Cooperstown) Otsego 75 

Pittsfield Pittsfield 73 

Plainfield Center Plainfield 32 

Pleasant Brook Roseboora 127 

Portlandville ". .Milford 352 

Richfield Springs Richfield 1537 

Roseboom Roseboora 226 

Salt Springville Cherry Valley 119 

Schenevus Maryland 613 

Schuyler Lake Exeter 406 

Snowdon Otsego 27 

South Edmeston Edmeston 206 

South Hartwick Hartwick 63 

South Valley Roseboom 227 

South Worcester Worcester 150 

Springfield Springfield 160 

Springfield Center Springfield 350 

Stetsonville (mail New Lisbon) New Lisbon 40 

Toddsville Hartwick. . , 302 

Unadilla Unadilla 1172 

Unadilla Center Unadilla 73 

Unadilla Forks • • • • Plainfield 312 

Welcome New Lisbon 13 

Wells Bridge Unadilla 165 



GENERAL HISTORY 



21 



Name Tnwnshiji 

West Burlington Burlington 

West Edmeston Edmeston . 

West Exeter Exeter 

Westford Westford . . 

West Laurens Laurens . . . 

West Oneonta Oneonta . . . 

Westville Westford. . . 

Wharton .' Burlington 

Worcester Worcester. . 



Populnlion 

110 

222 

1()7 

167 

117 

207 

72 

26 

1020 



Political Relations. 

Otsego county forms an assembly district, and with. Her- 
kimer it forms the thirty-third state senatorial district; with 
Delaware, Schoharie and Ulster it forms the twenty-fourth 
congressional district* and it is a part of the sixth judicial dis- 
trict, which includes also the counties of Delaware, Madison, 
Chenango, Tompkins, Broome, Chemung, Schuyler, Tioga 
and Cortland. 

Newspapers in Otsego County. 
(Weekly unless otherwise indicated.) 



Townfihip 


Name 


Location Estri 


[blished 


Butternuts 


Otsego Journal 


Gilbertsville 


1876 


Cherry Valley Cherry Valley Gazette 


Cherry Valley 


1818 


Edmeston 


Edmeston Local 


Edmeston 


1882 


Hartwick 


Hartwick Review 


Hartwick 


1902 


Hartwick 


Hartwick Visitor 


Hartwick 


1902 


Hartwick 


Hartwick Sem. Monthly 


Hartwick Seminary 


1887 


Laurens 


Otego Valley News 


Laurens 


1899 


Maryland 


Schenevus Monitor 


Schenevus 


1863 


Milford 


Otsego Tidings 


Milford 


1889 


Milford 


* Teachers' Gazette 


Milford 


1897 


Morris 


Morris Chronicle 


Morris 


1864 


Oneonta 


Oneonta Herald 


Oneonta 


1853 


" 


Oneonta Leader 


" 


1902 


" 


Oneonta Press 


( ( 


1876 


" 


Oneonta Spy 


" 


1887 


1 1 


Oneonta Daily Star 


, " 


1890 



22 



GENERAL HISTORY 



Towiisliip 


Nmno 


Location 


Oneonta 


*The Oneoutan 


Oneonta 


Otego 


Rural Times 


Otego 


Otsego 


Freeman's Journal 
Otsego Farmer 
Republican 


Coooerstown 


Richfield 


Richfield Springs Mercury 
i- Richfield Springs Daily 


Richfield Springs 


Unadilla 


Unadilla Times 


Unadilla 


Worcester 


Worcester Times 


Worcester 


* Monthly school papers. 




tJuly and August only. 





EstablMied 
1893 
1881 
1808 
1877 
18a8 
1866 
1888 
1854 
1876 



The Public School System. 

The public schools of Otsego county are subject to the 
general school laws of the state, which date from legislative en- 
actments of 185B and 1867. Each township is divided into 
school districts and each school is under the authority of trus- 
tees chosen by the parents and taxpayers of the district. 

The schools are free of tuition to all pupils of school age (5 
to 18 inclusive), provided they attend within the districts in 
which they reside. Those attending in other districts pay a 
moderate tuition fee. School text-books are not supplied free 
unless the district so orders and supplies the means. 

The public schools of the county are of four kinds, viz : 

1 — Rural schools in which only the common English 
branches are taught. 

2 — Grade schools in which there are two or more depart- 
ments. 

3 — Union free schools, graded, supplied with apparatus, 
charts, etc, and employing a number of teachers. 

4 — High or Academic schools subject to the Regents of 
the University of New York and enjoying certain advantages by 
virtue of this relation. 

Any Union Free School may, upon application and inspec- 
tion, become a regents or high school. In order to do this it 
must maintain an academic department, must have at least $250 
worth of reference books, a microscope and other apparatus for 
scientific instruction. All public schools receive money from 
the state to assist in the purchase of reference books and ap- 
paratus. 



GENERAL HISTORY ^3 

Compulsory Education Law. 

Every cliild in proper mental and physical condition shall 
attend school as follows: 

Between 8 and 12 years of age: As many days annnally as 
the school is in session from the first of October to the first of 
June. 

Between 12 and 14: At least eighty consecutive school 
days ; also when not legally employed. 

Between 14 and 16 : When not legally employed. 

The Old Academies. 

Previous to the festablishment of the present public school 
system of the state, Otsego county was the seat of numerous 
private institutions of learning, among the most noted of which 
were the Cherry Valley Academy, the Gilbertsville Academy, 
the Cooperstown Seminary, the Unadilla Academy and the 
Hartwick Seminary. The Unadilla and Gilbertsville Acade- 
mies have both, within the past few years, been consolidated with 
the public schools of their respective towns. The Cooperstown 
Academy, originally a Methodist institution, after various 
changes in ownership, was discontinued, and the building, which 
for many years was a summer hotel, was burned in 1893. The 
Cherry Valley Academy was discontinued in 1895, and the Hart- 
wick Seminary, a Lutheran institution, founded by John 
Christopher Hartwick in 1797, and liberally endowed by him, 
alone remains. 

Railroads. 

The railroads in or adjoining Otsego county and which con- 
tribute to its prosperity, are as follows: 

The "Delaware and Hudson" system, which extends from 
Albany to Bingharnton and to the coal regions of Pennsylvania, 
with northern extension to Rouse Point and other branches. 

The "New York, Ontario and Western," with its "New 
Berlin Branch," from Sidney to Edmeston. 

The "Unadilla Valley" road from New Berlin to Bridgewater. 

The "Delaware, Lackawanna and Western" road with a 
branch from Eichfield Junction to Richfield Springs. 



^4 GENERAL HISTORY 

The "Ulster and Delaware" road from Kingston on the 
Hudson to Oneonta. 

The "Cooperstown and Charlotte Valley" road connecting 
with the "Ulster and Delaware road at West Davenport. 

The "Oneonta, Cooperstown and Richfield Springs "electric 
road, which is to connect with the New York Central at Mo- 
hawk and Herkimer. 

The "Unadilla Valley Railroad Company" is extending its 
line from New Berlin to Oneonta via Morris and the Butter- 
nuts valley, also northward from Bridgewater to Utica. 

The Albany and Susquehanna Railroad. 

The construction of this important road opened Otsego 
county, previously isolated, to the trade and commerce of the world. 
But it was undertaken before the value of such an improve- 
ment was generally appreciated. The discussion and legislation 
that led to its accomplishment extended over a period of many 
years, and it was only after a hard struggle that the means were 
obtained and the work begun. 

The first man who advocated the building of railroads in the 
county was Jacob Dietz of Oneonta, who in 1827 published arti- 
cles on the subject in the "Freeman's Journal" of Cooperstown. 
In 1832 several roads were chartered but never built. In 1845 
a charter was obtained for a road from Binghamton to Schenec- 
tady, traversing the county, but this also failed. Finally in 
1851 (Ajiril 19th) the present Albany & Susquehanna road was 
chartered, and after 13 years of agitation and controversy 
the public interest was sufficiently aroused, the means pro- 
vided and the work begun. This was in 1863. The road was 
completed from Albany to Cobleskill in the summer of 1864, 
to Oneonta in August, 1865, and to its terminus at Binghamton 
in January, 1869. 

Among the most active promoters of this great work were : 
Richard I Franchot of Morris, who was the first president of 
the road, Jared Goodyear of Colliersville, Eliakim R. Ford and 
Harvey Baker (the energetic contractor), of Oneonta, and 
Arnold B. Watson of Unadilla. In 1870 the "Delaware & 
Hudson_ Canal Company" * obtained a lease of the Albany & 

* The Delaware and Hudsou canal extends from Honesdale, Penn., via Port Jervis, 
to Kddyville, near Kingston, N. Y., and was built chiefly for the transportation of coal. 
The railroad system of this company has superceded the canal, which is now out of use 
except a small portion near Kondout. 



GENERAL HISTORY 25 

Susquehanna Kailroad for 99 years, payintji; at first 7 per cent 
and now 9 per cent interest on the par value of its stock. It 
added also other lines to its system and the whole is now called 
the "Delaware & Hudson Kailroad." 

Agkicui.tukal Resources. 

According to the census of 1900 there were in Otsego county 
5,634 farms having a total of r)12,224 acres, of which 470,787 
acres were improved. The value of farms and farm property 
was as follows : 

Land and improvements except buildings $9,487,540 

Buildings $7,350,970 

Implements and machinery $1,223,000 

Live stock $3,414,454 

Total $21,475,964 

The value of farm products for the year 1899 was. . ..$4,261,749 
Expenditures for labor and fertilizers $719,210 

Net Earnings $3,542,539 

Dividing the net earnings by the number of farms gives 

$628.77 as the average return to the farmer for his own labor 

and capital. 

I'^AKM Products of Ot.skoo (>)unty for the Year 1809 ; 

Census of 1900. 

Acres Quarts 

CEREALS Oats 25,539 1,002,190 

Corn 9,769 414.450 

Buckwheat 5,251 99,220 

Barley 857 7,530 

Rye 772 11,160 

Wheat 320 5,620 

HAY Tons 

Hay and grain cut 

for hay 149,789 183,014 

Forage 

(cornstalks, etc.) 6,639 33,507 

Iius}}f>]s 

VEGETABLES Potatoes 6,396 753,613 

Onions 20 4,837 



.26 



GENERAL HISTORY 





A crofi 


Bushels 




Beans 176 


2,119 




Peas 52 


1,133 




Miscellaneous Vegetables 951 


rounds 


HOPS & TOBACCO Hops 7,038 


4,115,300 




Tobacco 1 


580 




Trees 


Bushels 


FRUITS 


Apples 331,659 


446,046 




Pears 11,110 


6,683 




Peaches & Nectarines 914 


660 




Plums and Prunes 7,040 


583 




Cherries 2,425 


313 




Apricots 15 






Acres 


Qunrts 


BERRIES 


and other small Fruits 153 


292,370 




Number 


Value 


LIVE STOCK 


Cattle 87,707 
Horses 14,321 
Sheep 29,966 
Swine 14,156 
Mules 30 
Asses 8 






Goats 13 13,414,454 


DAIRY PRODUCTS Gallons of Milk 25,865,122 






Gallons of Cream sold 2,158 






Pounds Butter made 2, 412, 218 






" Cheese made (?) 62,001 $1,793,836 


POULTRY 




Nuniliei' 




Chickens, including Guineas 


221,310 




Turkeys 


4,993 




Ducks 


2,353 




Geese 


911 




Value of Poultry, June 1, 1900 


$94,279 




Value of Poultry raised in 1899 


$111,494 




Doz. of Eggs produced in 1899 


1,651,250 


WOOL 


Fleeces shorn 


16,643 


' 


Pounds of Wool 


121,534 


BEES & HONEY 


Swarms of Bees June 1, 1900 


4,321 




Pounds Honey ]jroduced in 1891. 


) 79,360 



GENERAL HISTORY 27 

AoKICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 

The Otsego county Agricultural Society holds a fair an- 
nually at Cooperstown. Fairs are also held annually by local 
societies at Morris, Oneonta, Richfield Springs and Schenevus. 

Patrons of Husbandhy. 

This organization has fifteen local societies or granges in 
Otsego county. Its objects are educational, financial and 
social. It insures farm property, advocates good roads, and 
has been influential in the establishment of free rural mail 
delivery. Meetings are held every two weeks for the discussion 
of topics loertaining to the interests of farmers. The state 
gives to each grange, on application, an agricultural library of 
100 volumes. The membership in Otsego county numbers 665 
and consists of farmers and their families. The first grange in 
this county was organized at Elk Creek in 1886 and since that 
date W. H. Chamberlain of Elk Creek has been county deputy 
and secretary. 

Summer E-EsoiiTS. 

The high altitude and salubrious climate of Otsego county 
render it an attractive region for summer residence. Richfield 
Springs has long been a favorite health resort, and Coopers- 
town, with its surroundings, famous as the scene of the "Leath- 
erstocking Tales," will never lose its charm while "Glimmer- 
glass" invites the wanderer to its placid waters. But while 
these two places are most noted there are many others where 
summer dwellers find coolness, health and rural beauty. With 
its increased railroad facilities, which already link together its 
most attractive spots, Otsego county, with its fifty-three vil- 
lages, so long isolated from the outer world, is now accessible 
from all directions, and no small portion of its prosperity is 
due to its easy communication with the great cities to which 
it sends its abundant dairy and other products and from 
which it receives in summer many seekers of rural peace and 
pleasure. 

The Otsego Society, 

The natives of Otsego county, however far they may roam, 
never forget the old home and do much to perpetuate the mem- 



28 



GENERAL HISTORY 



ury of it. Those who dwell in and near New York city have 
organized a society containing now 66 members, the purpose 
of which is thus set forth in its constitution: "The society is 
organized for the purpose of establishing a closer intimacy 
among the present residents of New York city and vicinity who 
have come from the county of Otsego, and for the purpose of 
cultivating social intercourse among its members. " 

The society was organized February 26, 1901, with the 
Hon. Silas B. Dutcher of Brooklyn, a native of the town of 
Springfield, as president and Edwin J. Johnson esq. of Brook- 
lyn, a native of Richfield, as secretary. 




OTSEGO LAKE, COOPERSTOWN, N. Y. 



Part II— the Tow^nships 



Burlington 



Areci, 27,217 Acres. 



Population, 1,263. 




BURLINGTON was formed 
from the township of Otsego in 
1792 and was then much larger 
than at present, Pittsfield and Ed- 
meston having since been set off 
from it. The surface consists 
chiefly of hilly uplands and ridges 
extending north and south, which 
at various points, attain an eleva- 
tion of 400 feet above the valleys. 
The principal streams are Butter- 
nuts and Wharton creeks. 
The early settlers of the township came mostly from Ver- 
mont, but some from Massachusetts and Connecticut. In 1787 
came the five Angel brothers, Jonathan, William, Joseph, James 
and Thomas, and in 1789 Captain Gad Chapin, and Perez 
Briggs. In 1790 came Alexander Parker, Deacon Benjamin 
Herrington with his four brothers, Elijah, Francis, Richard 
and Elisha ; the four Johnson brothers, Elisha, Harris, Ira and 
John, and the three Church brothers, Amasa, Willard and 
Cady. About this time came Jedediah Peck, a leading citizen 
who represented the county in the state legislature from 1799 
to 1804. He is honorably remembered as the author of the bill 
establishing the public school system of the state. Other hon- 
ored names in the early days were Jeremiah and Elisha Pratt, 
Samuel Gardner, Lemuel Hubble, Uriah Balcom and Zacheus 
Flint. 



so BURLINGTON 

Other respected families of the olden time, whose names 
have been jjerpetuated, are those of Deacon Albert Bolton and 
his son Daniel, Colonel David Gardner, Dan Mather and his 
son Andrew A. Mather, Lemuel Bolton and his family of ten 
children, Oapt. Elisha Parker, a soldier of the Revolution and 
Roswell Kelsey. 

Caleb Clark, formerly president of the First National Bank 
of Edmeston, approaches his ninetieth year at his home in 
West Burlington, or with his grandchildren in Oneonta, with 
a cheerfulness that is an explanation of his long life. 

Burlington is a prosperous agricultural town. The lead- 
ing industry is dairying, the milk being mostly sent to the 
local cheese factories, or to the Borden condensery at Edmeston. 

VILLAGES: There are three villages in this township, 
viz: Burlington (population 111), Burlington Flats (population 
212), and West Burlington (population 110). Wharton and 
Patent are rural postoffices. 

SCHOOLS : Number of districts 13. Teachers, 14. Chil- 
dren of school age, 214. 

CHURCHES : There are six churches in the township, 
viz : At Burlington, Baptist and United Presbyterian ; at West 
Burlington, Episcopal and Methodist; at Burlington Flats, 
Baptist and Methodist. 



Butternuts 



Area., 2(),00S Acres. Population, 1,(>!)S. 




BUTTERNUTS was formed 
from Unadilla in 1796. Its 
surface is a hilly upland ris- 
ing from the Unadilla river, 
which bounds it on the west, 
in a series of steep bluffs to 
the height of 500 or 600 feet. 
Butternuts Creek flows south- 
west through a deep valley 
near the center of the town. 
A large number of smaller 
streams flow through valleys 
among the hills, dividing the ridges and giving to the region a 
peculiarly broken appearance. 

Gilbertsville, formerly called Butternuts, is the only village 
in the township. The following graphic description of it is 
abridged from a sketch published in the local paper, the "Ot- 
sego Journal. " "The village is located in a beautiful valley. 
On the west a high hill rises abruptly. Downward through the 
hills extends a deep ravine into which a little brook flows, in 
springtime rushing down with the violence of a mountain tor- 
rent and in summer rippling gently over the stones on its way 
through the heart of the village. Toward the east the valley 
stretches away for some distance. Through this valley flows 
the Butternuts Creek on its winding course. This stream is 
spanned in three places at roads leading directly into the village 
by iron bridges. On the hill just south of the village are situ- 
ated the fine residences of Thos. Swinyard and N. C. Chapman, 
who make Gilbertsville their summer home. The site of the 
village was included in the Patent of 35,000 acres of land 
granted by the state to Lewis and Richard Morris as indemnity 
for property destroyed during the Revolution. The name But- 



32 BUTTERNUTS 

teriints was derived from the descriptions in the Morris and 
Wharton Patents, all beginning at 'Three Bntternnt Trees' 
growing from one stump or root. The Messrs. Morris divided 
their Patent by lot. General Jacob Morris received from his 
father, Lewis Morris, a tract of 5,000 acres. 

"Abijah Gilbert of Warwickshire, England, came to Amer- 
ica in 178(i, spending the winter with relatives in New Jersey. 
It was here he met Richard and Lewis Morris and purchased a 
tract of 1,000 acres for which he paid 571 pounds, 8s. 8d. before 
seeing the wilderness that was to become his home. The orig- 
inal tract included the portion where Gilbertsville now stands, 
reaching away through the Butternuts valley and back on the 
hills bounding the village. In 1787 Gen. Jacob Morris made 
his first expedition into the region accompanied by Mr. Gilbert, 
and the settlement of the village began in the same year. 

' 'The second settler was Joseph Cox, also of Warwickshire, 
England. The third settler was a woman, Betsy Nichols, and 
the first wedding that which celebrated her marriage with Joseph 
Cox. Mr. Cox introduced the making of English cheese, still 
quite an industry in that section. Dairying is the principal 
occupation at the present time. 

"In those early days the timber being so abundant was of 
comparatively little value. The main object of work was to 
clear the land for crops. The fourth immigrant was John 
Marsh, an energetic young pioneer from Connecticut. He 
brought a yoke of oxen of great service in logging. In 1791 Mr. 
Gilbert returned to England and in the following spring brought 
his family to the log cabin home in America. 

"Two sons of Abijah Gilbert, John Y. and Joseph T.,who 
had been attending school at Schenectady, came to the settle- 
ment in 1799. About the same time came also William Musson 
and Samuel Cotton, with whom Mr. Gilbert formed a business 
partnership under the name of Musson, Cotton and Gilbert. 
This firm established a store on the Musson farm in 1806. 
Religious services were held for some time in Mr. Gilbert's 
barn, and the first religious society was formed in 1797." 

Edward Thorp was a pioneer north of the villacre. His son 
Henry was a member of Assembly in 1873. Charles Root, the 
father of Major Charles P. Root, was an early settler in the east- 
ern part of the township. The Shaw brothers, Deacon Samuel, 
Col. David and William came from Massachusetts in 1796. 



BUTTERNUTS 



m 



Other pioneers who are honorably remembered were Capt. 
John Bryant, and the brothers. Levi and Thomas Halbert. 
Levi Halbert was the first teacher in the town. The first su- 
pervisor was Lewis Franchot (179(>-'98), and the first town clerk 
Hezekiah Dayton (1796-1805). 




GILBERTSVILLE HIGH SCHOOL 



SCHOOLS: Number of districts, 15. Number of teachers, 
15. Children of school age, 320. 

The Gilbertsville High School occupies the substantial 
stone building formerly used by the Academy. It is under the 
control of the Kegents of the University of the State, and grants 
Regents' diplomas. It provides a classical course of four years. 
It is well supplied with apparatus, maps, and anatomical models. 
Pupils have access also to the excellent village library. • The 
faculty of the school consists of a principal and four assistants. 

CHURCHES : At Gilbertsville, Baptist, Episcopal, Meth- 
odist, and Presbyterian. 

NEWSPAPERS: The "Otsego Journal," published at 
Gilbertsville. Established, 1876. 



Cherry Valley 



Area, 24,058 ^Xeres. Population, 1,802. 




tUnii 



jvlONTGOMER'i 



CHERRY VALLEY town- 
ship was organized in 1789 
and then comprised all that 
portion of the county east of 
Otsego Lake and the Susque- 
hanna river, and including 
the whole of the present town 
of Springfield, but with the 
increase of population it was 
repeatedly subdivided until 
eight townships had been 
formed from the original one- 
The surface is generally hilly. The highest elevations 
in the county are in this township, several points exceeding 
2,000 feet in height. Among these is Mount Independence, 
three miles east of Cherry Valley village, and formerly regarded 
as the highest, but the New York State Survey has recently de- 
termined a higher point, namely, a hill two and one-fourth miles 
northwest of Center Valley on which a signal station of the 
survey has been established. This summit is 2,301 feet above 
tide, and is the highest known point in the county. 

The waters of the central and southern part flow into 
the Susquehanna, while the northern part is drained by trilmta- 
ries of the Mohawk. The soil is fertile, particularly in the val- 
leys, where are found many of the finest farms in the county. 

The village of Cherry Valley is beautifully situated on 
Cherry Valley creek near the centre of the township, and is ro- 
mantically environed by hills. It was the first white settlement 
in the county, dating from a land grant made by the authorities 
of New York to John Lindesay and others in 1738, the settle- 
ment being made two years later. • Its name was derived from 
the abundance of wild cherries that grew in the vicinity. 



CHERRY VALLEY -VJ 

The early history of this place is of unusual interest 
and importance. It has been given in part in connection with 
the general history of the county. The massacre of 1778 deso- 
lated the place. A few brave settlers remained under the pro- 
tection of the garrison, which was called away the next summer; 
but a second surprise and massacre by the savages in the spring 
of 1780 (eight being killed and fourteen carried into captivity), 
caused the unfortunate settlement to be completely abandoned. 

' 'It was indeed wiped out of existence, all that remained 
— the fort, the church, and every dwelling being burned, and 
thus the results of the labors of nearly forty years were de- 
stroyed and the valley returned into the undisputed possession 
of the beasts and the birds, and Cherry Valley, a few years be- 
fore the largest and most prominent of the frontier settlements 
of New York, was but a name. "* 

But with the return of peace the settlers who had sur- 
vived the horrors of war and massacre returned and sought their 
former homes, though they found only a wilderness, but the 
hardships they had endured fitted them for their new struggle. 
The village arose from its ruins audits builders were soon re-in- 
forced by the western tide of emigration of those days, and in 
a few years Cherry Valley -was again the largest settlement south 
of the Mohawk. 

In 1783 General Washington, accompanied by Gover- 
nor George Clinton and other distinguished men, being on an 
extended tour through the state, visited Cherry Valley. The 
party was entertained at the house of Col. Samuel Campbell. 
Judge William W. Campbell (a grandson of Samuel), in his 
"Annals of Try on County, " relates the following incident of 
this visit. Gov. Clinton, observing several stout boys, re- 
marked that they would make fine soldiers sometime. Mrs. 
Campbell replied that she hoped the country would never need 
their services. "I hope so, too. Madam," said Washington, 
"for I have seen enough of war." 

Cherry Valley has been the birthplace or residence of 
some distinguished men, among whom are the following : 

Col. Samuel Campbell, a distinguished patriot of the Kev- 
olution and one of the heroes of the battle of Oriskany, where 
he took the chief command after Gen. Herkimer was wounded. 



* Sawyer's History ])age il. 



36 CHERRY VALLEY 

Col. Samuel Clyde, also one of the heroes of the battle of 
Oriskany and of the border wars of the Revolution. He was the 
first sheriff of Otsego county. 

Rev. Dr. Eliphalet Nott, president for sixty years of Un- 
ion College, Schenectady, whose first pastorate was at Cherry 
Valley. 

Hon. William W. Campbell, Justice of the Supreme Court 
of New York, and aiithor of ' 'Annals of Tryon County, ' ' ' 'Life 
of DeWitt Clinton," and other works. 

Hon. Jabez I). Hammond, an eminent lawyer, Otsego 
County Judge, Member of Congress, author of "Political His- 
tory of the State of New York," and "Life and Times of Silas 
Wright." 

Hon. Levi Beardsley, lawyer, State Senator, and author of 
"Beardsley's Reminiscences, " a valuable contribution to local 
history. 

Dr. Joseph White, an eminent physician and surgeon, 
president of the Otsego Medical Society, of the New York State 
Medical Society, and of the Fairfield Medical College. He was 
almost equally distinguished in law and in finance, a man of 
wonderfully varied attainments. 

Rev. Solomon Spaulding, the first principal of Cherry Val- 
ley Academy and the reputed author of the "Book of Mor- 
mon, ' ' which he wrote as a romance. 

Other noted men of the early time were the lawyers Alvin 
Stewart, James O. Morse, James Bracket, Isaac Seeley, George 
Clyde and Horace Lathrop. The Cherry Valley bar was 
famous throughout the state. Sawyer says in his history : 
" The history of this country, and probably of the whole 
world, presents no other case in which a village of less than a 
thousand people has possessed, at one time, so great an array of 
legal talent, in active and successful practice." 

Among the early settlers who are honorably remembered 
were also Archibald McKellip, James Thompson, James Can- 
non, William Peeso, Dr. David Little, Major John Walton 
Robert Shankland, a native of Ireland and a famous patriot and 
Indian fighter, James and John Wilson and Edwin Judd. 

An old lady, writing of the early times in Cherry Valley, 
relates the following of Alvin Stewart, the wittiest and most 
successful lawyer of his time in the state : 



CHERRY VALLEY 37 

"He was a teacher at first in the Academy, and always 
kept his eyes open when he made the prayer at the opening of 
the school. One scholar, bolder than the others, said : ' Mr. 
Stewart, why do you always keep your eyes open when you 
pray ? ' He said, 'we are commanded to watch as well as pray. ' 
But he was much liked by his pupils. I wish I could remem- 
ber all the funny things I've heard of him. An old lady told 
me that once a boy did something against the rule, and he told 
him to go and get some withes. When the boy came back he 
told him he thought he should have to kill him ; and, as he 
threatened, he kept poking the withes in the ashes to season 
them. When school was dismissed, he took up the bundle of 
sticks and told the boy to run ; and he whipt all the benches 
and chairs, and the boy escaped unscathed. He was addicted 
to taking too much sometimes, but he afterwards reformed and 
became a great temperance man. ' ' 

VILLAGES : This township contains three villages, 
viz: Cherry Valley (population, 772), Salt Springville (popu- 
lation, 119), and Center Valley (population, 107). 

SCHOOLS: Number of districts in the township 12. 
Number of teachers 16. Children of school age 295. 

The Cherry Valley High School is the successor of the 
famous old Cherry Valley academy. It is a Kegents' school of 
high grade, with a wide range of scientific and classical instruc- 
tion. The building has recently been enlarged, improved and 
supplied with new apparatus. The library contains 1,500 
volumes. 

CHURCHES: There are four churches: Baptist, 
Ejoiscopal, Methodist Episcopal and Presbyterian. 

NEWSPAPERS: The "Cherry Valley Gazette," one 
of the oldest papers in the county (established 1818), is the 
local organ for Cherry Valley and adjoining townships. 



Decatur 



Ai-ea,, 12,S41 Acres. Population, 559. 




DECATUR township was 
set oflP from Worcester in 
1808. Its surface is hilly, 
broken by narrow valleys. 
The principal streams are Oak 
and Parker creeks tributary 
to the Schenevus. The first 
settlement was made in 1790 
by Jacob Kinney near the 
present village of Decatur. 
The first merchant in the 
village was Nahum Thompson, who was member of the assem- 
bly in 1844. The first supervisor was David Tripp, and the 
first town clerk was Lemuel Fletcher. 

The first school was taught by Samuel Thurber about the 
year 1798. 

The first grist mill was erected by John Champion, the 
grandfather of S. B. Champion, editor of the "Stamford Mir- 
ror." James Stewart, built the first carding mill. 

Jacob Brown and his son Jacob came from Columbia 
county in 1787. Nathan and Gardner Boorn were early settlers. 
Amos, a son of Gardner, was sujjervisor for six years. The 
brothers, Elisha, John and Samuel Waterman, came from Nor- 
wich, Connecticut, soon after the Revolution. From Elisha was 
descended the late Lewis Edson Waterman, the inventor of the 
' 'Waterman Ideal Fountain Pen. ' ' Mr. Waterman was born in 
Decatur in the year 1837, and died in Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1900. 
Other pioneer settlers were John Treat, Charles Treat, 
Charles Kaple, Orra Ferris, Amos Crippen, Robert Lansing, 
Chelsea and Lorenzo Dow Davis and Andrew Sloan. 

VILLAGES : This is a strictly agricultural township, hav- 
ing only one village, Decatur, with a population of 70. 

CHURCHES : There is only one church in the township, a 
Methodist church at the village of Decatur. 

SCHOOLS : Number of districts, (x Number of teachers, 
(3. Children of school age, 75. 



Edmeston 



Aren, 2T,0Ti'^ An-ps Poj)iilntioii, 1,707. 




EDMESTON was formed from 
~~r-|the town of Burlington in 1808. 
The surface is an elevated upland, 
broken by numerous valleys. The 
highest elevations are about 400 
feet above the Unadilla river which 
forms its western boundary. The 
township takes its name from Col. 
Edmeston, an officer in the old 
French war (1754-1763), who for 
his services received from the 
crown a tract of 110,000 acres 
along the Unadilla river. To this tract Col. Edmeston sent 
Persifer Carr,a faithful old soldier of his command, who remained 
here until carried away with his family captive by the Indians, 
but after the Revolution he returned. 

In 1818 William Stickney and Samuel Simons built a forge 
and . trip hammer for the manufacture of axes, rifle barrels^ 
scythes and wrought iron plow shares. The first physician was 
Dr. Gaines Smith, who came with his family from Vermont in 
1800. His grandson, Hon. David B. St. John, became a resi- 
dent of the town in 1820. Other early settlers in the town who 
have living descendants were David Chapin, with his large 
family, Nathan Langworthy, Henry D. Crandall, Stephen 
Hoxie, Adin and Lyman Deming, John S. Coon, Charles F. 
Goodrich, Levi D. Banks, Daniel R. Barrett, Abel Matterson, 
Charles Burlingham, Erastus Waldo, Daniel R. Barrett, Joseph 
Bootman, James P. Ackerman, Ephriam Chamberlain, Edwin 
Phelps, John T. Richards, Hiram Wright, Benjamin Peet, 
George B. Talbot, Elder Taylor, Andrew Hawkins, Silas Coates, 
Julius Lines, Samuel Hopkins, O. L. Smith, George Arnold, 
Daniel Chapin and Jacob Talbot. 



40 



EDMESTON 



VILLAGES : There are three villages in this township : 
Edmeston (population 749), West Edmeston (population 222). 
and South Edmeston (population 206). North Edmeston is a 
rural postoffice. 

SCHOOLS : Number of districts, 13. Number of teachers, 
17. Children of school age, 266. 

The Edmeston High School is under the supervision of the 
Board of Regents. The academic department has a well equipped 
laboratory, a library of 1,000 volumes, and all necessary reference 
books. The faculty consists of a principal and^four assistants. 





i^^''.^l 



EDMESTON HIGH SCHOOL 

CHURCHES : There are six churches in the township of 
Edmeston, namely : Baptist, Methodist and Free Methodist at 
Edmeston village ; Baptist and 7th day Baptist at West Edmes- 
ton and a Union church at South Edmeston. 

NEWSPAPERS: The "Edmeston Local," established in 
1882, circulates also as a local organ in the townships of Bur- 
lington, Pittsfield, Plainj&eld, and New Lisbon. 



Exeter 




Are/1, 11,S!)5 Acrfif^. Popjilfifion. ],0S7. 

EXETER was formed from 
Richfield in 1799. The surface 
is generally hilly, some of the 
elevations being 300 feet above 
the valleys. It is drained by 
Herkimer and Sutherland creeks 
which flow into Oanadarago 
lake and by Butternuts and 
Wharton creeks which flow into 
the Unadilla river. 

The earliest landed propri- 
etors in this township were 
Major John Tunniclifl^ and William Angell. Major TunniclifP 
was a gentleman of intelligence, culture and wealth, who came 
from Derby, England, in the year 1756, and purchased 12,000 
acres of land belonging to the patent that had been recently 
granted to David Schuyler and others, his purchase lying to the 
west of Fly Creek and being mainly within the present town- 
ship of Exeter but extending somewhat into Richfield. Here 
he built a cabin at a place called "The Oaks," and commenced 
a settlement, but danger from the Indians soon caused him to 
abandon it until the close of the French war, when he returned 
with his family and made here his permanent home. 

William Angell was from Rhode Island and located on what 
has since been known as Angell's Hill, in school district No. 3. 
His family consisted of six sons and several daughters. His 
son William G. Angell, was an influential man, and represented 
his district in congress. 

Other early settlers were Jonathan Angell, Seth Tubbs, 
Jacob Goble, Caleb Clark, Bethel Martin, Amos and Hull 
Thomas, Joshua Gorton, Uriel Stone, Ashel Williams and Au- 
gustus Curtiss. John and Aaron Phillips of Cambridge, Mass., 
came to Exeter in 1790. They established a circulating library 



42 EXETER 

and in 1822 a Congregational church. Among the early settlers 
was Hon. Levi Beardsley, an eminent lawyer and author of 
"Beardsley's Reminiscences and Ancedotes. " He came to 
Exeter in his infancy with his parents in 17U0. The family set- 
tled on "The Herkimer Farm," but afterwards removed to 
Richfield. 

A Pioneer Home in the Forest. 

To give an idea of the trials endured by the settlors in 
those days we quote from his entertaining book of "Reminis- 
cences:" 

"We left our eastern home with a cart, one or two wagons, 
one or two yoke of oxen, three or four horses, and a few cattle, 
sheep, and hogs. The roads were excessively bad, and we took 
but little household goods with us. My mother was left behind 
with a sick child. My sister, about two years younger than 
myself, was with me, stowed in a cart or wagon among the 
chairs and furniture, and put under the care of a girl brought 
up by my grandfather. ' ' 

Some distance this side of Canajoharie they abandoned 
their vehicles, in consequence of the bad roads, and 
proceeded on their journey. "Some of the i^arty drove the live 
stock, and went on the best way they could. My father put a 
saddle on one of the horses, and on another packed a bed and 
bedding, on which the girl was to ride. I was placed on the 
horse behind him, on a pillow tied to the saddle, with a strap 
under my arms buckled to his waist to prevent me from falling 
off, and carrying my sister before him we pursued our journey, 
the girl Sukey, riding the other horse on top of the bed and 
bedding, and a yearling colt tagging after. This constituted 
the cavalcade, so far as my father and his family were con- 
cerned. " 

Their destination was finally reached, and soon after Mr. 
Beardsley's father returned to the east and brought his wife and 
sick child to the new country. He says : 

"She rode the horse on a man's saddle, and carried the 
child, my father in a patriarchal manner walking by her side ; 
and thus the family were at last re-united in the woods at the 
foot of the beautiful lake, and by the side of the fine little 
stream known as Herkimer creek, then full of fish, particularly 
the speckled trout. 



EXETER 43 

"The house that we moved into was a small log cabin, the 
body laid up, and part, though not the whole, of the roof covered 
with black ash and elm bark, which had l)ecn peeled from the 
trees at the season when bark is taken oft' easily. When opened 
out and put on the roof and pressed down with i)oles or small 
timbers, the rougii side exposed to the weathcu', it makes a good 
roof that will last several years and shed the rain quite well. 
The house was only partially covered, and when it rained we 
had to put our effects and ourselves under that part which was 
sheltered. 

' 'The floor was of basswood logs, split and hewed partly on 
one side, and then spiked down making a substantial floor, but 
only about half was laid. We had no fire x^lace or chimney, and 
till this was built the cooking must all be done out of doors. 

' 'A mud-and-stack chimney and fireplace were afterwards 
added as the weather became cold, and to get earth or clay to 
make mortar to daub the house and make the chimney, a hole 
was dug under the floor which was our only cellar, in which, in 
winter, we put a few bushels of potatoes and turnips, and took 
up one of the flattened logs from the floor whenever we wanted 
anything from below. I have said there was no door when we 
moved in. My father on reaching the house with my mother 
and family, suspended a blanket at the doorway to keep out part 
of the night air. ' ' 

The First Wedding. 

Mr. Beardsley gives a further insight into the customs of 
those days in his descrijDtion of the first wedding. He says : 

"Let me describe the first wedding, which was the marri- 
age of a sister of my mother, who was married to Ebenezer 
Russell; the marriage was at my father's, in the log house. I 
do not remember how the parties were dressed, but no doubt in 
their best gear. Judge Cooper, of Cooperstown, was sent for, 
being the nearest magistrate, and came eighteen miles ijrinci- 
pally through the woods, to perform the ceremony. The neigh- 
bors were invited, the old pine table was in the middle of the 
room, on which I recollect was placed a large wooden bowl filled 
with fried cakes (nut cakes or doughnuts, as the country people 
call them). There might have been something else to constitute 
the marriage feast, but I do not recollect anything except a black 



44 EXETER 



junk bottle filled with rum ; some maple sugar and water. The 
judge was in his long riding boots, covered with mud up to his 
knees, his horse was fed, that he might be off when the cere- 
mony was over. The parties presented themselves, and were soon 
made man and wife as his "Honor" officially announced. He 
then gave the bride a good hearty kiss, or rather smack, remark- 
ing that he always claimed that as his fee ; took a drink of rum, 
drank health, prosperity and long life to those married, ate a 
cake or two, declined even staying to supper, said that he must 
be on his way home, and should go to the foot of the lake that 
night, refused any other fee for his services, mounted his horse 
and was off ; and thus was the first marriage celebrated. ' ' 

VILLAGES: There are three villages in this township, 
viz : Schuyler Lake (population 406), West Exeter (population 
167), and Exeter (population 60). 

SCHOOLS : Number of school districts, 8, Number of 
teachers, 11. Children of school age, 158. The Union Free 
School at Schuyler Lake employs four teachers and is well or- 
ganized for efficient work. 

CHURCHES : There are five churches in this township, 
viz: at Exeter, Methodist ; at West Exeter, Methodist ; at Schuy- 
ler Lake, Baptist, Methodist and Universalist. 




Hartwick 



Area, 25,9S0 Acivs. Population, 7,S00. 




HAKTWICK was formed 
from Otsego in 1802. Its 
surface is hilly, the highest 
summits being 200 to 350 
feet above the valleys. It is 
drained by several small 
streams that flow into the 
Susquehanna and the east 
branch of the Otego creek. 
The township was named in 
honor of the Rev. John Chris- 
topher Hartwick who, in 1752, 
purchased from the Indians for the sum of 100 ijounds, a tract 
of land embracing nearly all of the present township and amount- 
ing to 21,500 acres. Mr. Hartwick was a native of the duke- 
dom of Saxe-Gotha in the province of Thuringia in Germany, 
and had come as a Lutheran missionary to this country. He 
was for many years a noted preacher throughout the country 
from New England to Virginia, and it was not until after the 
Revolution that he settled down upon his purchase and estab- 
lished a colony. Through the agency of Judge William Cooper 
he let a great part of his land to settlers at an annual rental of 
one shilling per acre, with the privilege of purchasing at four- 
teen shillings per acre. 

HARTWICK SEMINARY.— In his will Mr. Hartwick left 
his whole fortune for the establishment of the Seminary that 
bears his name. The school was opened on the 15th of Decem- 
ber, 1815, with the Rev. Dr. Ernest Lewis Hazelius as princi- 
pal. It now has three departments — Regents, Collegiate and 
Theological. The buildings have recently been remodeled and 
enlarged. The institution is located four miles south of Coop- 
erstown on the Cooperstown and Charlotte Valley railroad. 



46 



HARTWICK 



Conspicuous among the natives of Hartwiek was William 
H. Bissell who was born in tins town in 1811, but early re- 
moved with his parents to Milford where he grew to manhood. 
He prepared himself for the medical profession, but abandoned 
it for the law. In 1837 he removed to Illinois, from which state 
he served as a colonel in the Mexican war. He also represented 
his district in congress from 1849 to 1855. In 1856 he was 
elected governor of the state, was re-elected and died at Spring- 
field, 111. , in 1860, while serving his second term. 

Among the early settlers were the brothers John and Na- 
than Davidson, William and Nathan Field, Jerry Potter, Jed- 
ediah Ashoraft, Joseph Marsh, Nicholas and RufusSteere, Amos 
and Joseph Winsor, Benjamin and Nicholas Camp, John and 
Philip Wells, Hopkins Burlingham, Isaac Bissell, Deacon Ziba 




HARTWICK SEMINARY 



Newland, Amasa Peters, Uriah Luce, Stephen Ingalls, David 
and Josiah Majiles. Daniel Murdock and Col. Henry Wheeler. 
The first suijervisor was Philip Wells, and the first town clerk 
was Rufus Steere who built the cotton factory at Toddsville. 

VILLAGES : There are five villages in this township, viz : 
Hartwiek (population 605), Hartwiek Seminary (poijulation 
124), South Hartwiek (population 63), Toddsville (population 
302), and Hyde Park (population 150). Chase is a rural post- 
office. Clintonville, formerly a cotton cloth manufacturing vil- 
lage, has now only an electric lighting plant, from which Coopers- 
town is suijplied, ijostoffice at Milford. On the Fourth of July, 
11)02, Hartwiek village celebrated its 100th anniversary. 



HART WICK 



47 



SCHOOLS: Number of districts, l(v, number of teachers, 
17; number of children of school age, 342. The Hartwick 
Union Free school has a commodious building, newly furnished 
and jjrovided with a good library, natural history and chemical 
ajjparatus, and other appliances for teaching. It is a school of 
four grades and confers Regents' diplomas on its academic 
graduates. 




HARTWICK UNION FREE SCHOOL 



riHUROHES : There are eight churches in this township, 
viz: At Hartwick, Baptist, Christian and Methodist; atTodds- 
ville, Union and Methodist ; at Hartwick Seminary, Lutheran; 
at Hyde Park, Methodist ; and a Christian church near Christian 
Hill in the northern part of the township. 

NEWSPAPEES: There are two weekly papers, the "Hart- 
wick Review" and "Hartwick Visitor," published at Hartwick 
village. The "Hartwick Seminary Monthly and Eastern Lu- 
theran. ' ' the organ of Hartwick Seminary, is edited and pub- 
lished at the Seminary. 



Laurens 




Area. 26,116 acres Population, 1,48S. 

LAURENS was formed 
from Otsego in 1810. Otego 
creek, the principal stream, 
flows nearly south through a 
fertile and well cultivated val- 
ley. The first white settler 
within the present limits of 
the town was Joseph May all. 
He located in 177;5 about one 
mile north of the i^resent village. He was a man of great cour- 
age, and during the Revolution was celebrated as an Indian 
fighter. In the same year Richard Smith came from Baltimore 
and erected a fine colonial mansion, called "Smith Hall" one 
and a half miles north of the village. It has recently been pur- 
chased and restored by Willard V. Huntington esq. An early 
settler was the Quaker, John Sleeper, who maintained a peace- 
ful neutrality during the Revolution, though for a time com- 
pelled to leave on account of danger from the Indians. He 
reared here a family of seven sons and five daughters. 

The day before the massacre of Cherry Valley, Mr. Sleeper 
started for New Jersey, and upon arriving at Cherry Valley was 
urged by his friends to remain over night. But he declined 
and continued his journey to Bowman's creek, several miles 
distant, and thereby saved his life. 

The day following the massacre, a party of savages passed 
through Laurens and robbed the family of Mr. Sleeper and 
burned their buildings. Brant, the Indian chief, arrived soon 
after and, finding Mrs. Sleeper still there, exclaimed, "My God! 
Mrs. Sleeper, are you alive?" She replied: "Yes; but they 
have destroyed all our property. " Brant charged the destruc- 
tion upon the Senecas, saying: "They would kill their best 
friends," and offered to pay her for the loss, but Mrs. Sleeper, 
being of the Quaker faith, refused, as she believed that he had 



LAURKXS 4!) 

come wrongfully by it. The family soon after returned to New 
Jersey suffering terribly on the way. 

At the close of the Revolution Mr. Sleeper returned with 
his family and rebuilt the house and mill. In 1794 he sold his 
grist and saw mills and 1,000 acres of land to Griffin Craft of 
Cherry Valley, who was the first supervisor of the town in 1811. 

In 1815 General Erastus Craft succeeded to his father's 
estate. He was a member of assembly in 1810, '13 and 'l-l, and 
served as supervisor of the town for thirteen years. He married 
a sister of Judge W. W. Camp)bell of Cherry Valley and has de- 
scendants in this vicinity and in the west. Other early resi- 
dents were General William Comstock, a leading merchant, 
William. C. Fields, who represented his district in congress in 1866 
General William Armstrong, Erastus and Ezra Dean. 
Chauncey Strong, Samuel Allen, Jacob Butts, Nathan Newell, 
Cyrus Hudson, Solomon Harrison, Peter Scramling, Calvin 
Straight, a Quaker preacher, Solomon Eldred, Rufus Steere, 
Stephen Whipple and Joshua Matteson. 

Ruf us Tucker and Daniel Weatherly were early settlers at 
West Laurens Dr. Ezer Windsor settled above Laurens on the 
Mount Vision road in 1794. His son Amos was sheriff in 1812. 

Thomas Keyes came with his large family from Connecti- 
cut in 1805 His descendants are inlluential citizens at One- 
onta and elsewhere. 

VILLAGES : There are three villages in this township, 
viz: Laurens (population 233), Mt. Vision (population 300), 
and West Laurens (population 117). Otsego Park, near Lau- 
rens village, on the line of the O., C. & R. S. electric railway, 
eight miles from Oneouta, is a new and popular pleasure resort. 

CHURCHES : There are three churches in the village of 
Laurens, viz : Methodist, Christian and Presbyterian ; at Mt. 
Vision, Baptist and Methodist: at West Laurens, Christian 
and a Friends meeting house. 

SCHOOLS: Number of districts, 12: teachers, 14; child- 
ren of school age, 265. 

Laurens village has an efficient school of eight grades, with 
two teachers and 80 pupils. It has a library and school appa- 
ratus and prepares for Regents' examinations. 

NEWSPAPERS: "The Otego Valley News," a weekly 
paper is published at Laurens. Established, 1899. 



Maryland 



Area, 20,873 Acres. Popuhitiou, 1,D0S. 




This township was formed 
from Worcester in 1808. The 
principal stream is the Sche- 
nevus creek, which flows 
south-west through the town 
and empties into the Susque- 
hanna. 

The surface consists chiefly 
of a hilly upland, broken by 
ravines. The settlement of 
the town dates back to 1790. 
at which time Elisha Cham- 
berlain and the three brothers, Israel, Elephas and Phineas 
Spencer, located near the present Maryland station on the rail- 
road. The first settlers where Chase ville is now located were 
Jotham Houghton and his two sons Jerehamel and Daniel. 
Daniel was a captain in the war of 1812. Wilder, Ezekiel and 
John Rice settled near Sohenevus, Caleb Boynton in the eastern 
part of the town, and Joseph Howe in Elk Creek. Early set- 
tlers and large land owners were Josiah Chase and John Bige- 
low who came in 1791 and purchased 1,000 acres of land. In 
1794 arrived many pioneers, prominent among whom were John 
Thompson and his sons John and James from Columbia county. 
They located near the foot of Crumhorn Mountain and their 
descendants have been leading citizens. 

Other settlers in the vicinity of Elk Creek were Earl 
Wright, Philemon Perry, Eleazer Gove, John Kelly, and the 
Chase brothers, Asa, Dean, Seth and John, with their families. 
One of the first necessities of the early time was a grist mill 
near at hand. For a long time all grain had been sent to 
Cherry Valley. There was, therefore, great rejoicing when in 
1794, those enterprising pioneers, Israel and Elisha Spencer, 



52 MARYLAND 

erected a mill near the present Maryland railroad station. At 
about the same time Jonathan Houghton built a saw mill near 
Ohaseville, but afterwards removed it to a place near Spencer's 
Mills. These mills were built by Phineas Spencer, the pioneer 
carpenter. He was a mechanical genius. He made furniture, 
plows and coffins. For years he made all the burial cases free 
of charge. They were doubtless made, as was the custom in 
those days, of pine boards, colored black by a solution of water 
with the ashes of straw. 

The first death in the town was that of the wife of Josiah 
Chase. The remains were borne a distance of seven miles to 
the Maryland cemetery, the bearers being on foot as was the 
custom, for this was regarded as more respectful to the dead. 

VILLAGES : There are four villages in this township, 
viz: Schenevus (population 61B). Maryland (population 227), 
Chaseville (population 123) and Elk Creek (population 52). 

The Schenevus Valley Fair is held annually on the spa- 
cious grounds near Schenevus village. 

SCHOOLS : Number of districts, 15 ; teachers, 23 ; children 
of school age, 481. The Schenevus High school is under the 
board of Eegents. and is well equipped for efficient work. It is 
supplied with apparatus for the teachinsi: of the natural sciences, 
with maps, globes, charts, reference books and a circulating 
library of 1,000 volumes. A Eegents' diploma corresponding 
to an Academic course of four years is conferred upon its 
graduates. 

CHURCHES: At Schenevus, Baptist. Catholic, Episco- 
pal, and Methodist. At Maryland, Christian, and Lutheran. 
At Chaseville, Baptist. At Elk Creek, Methodist. 

NEWSPAPERS: At Schenevus, the "Schenevus Moni- 
tor," a weekly jDaper, established in 1863. 



Middlefield 



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MIDDLEFIELD is the largest 
township in the county. It was set 
oflF from Cherry Valley in 1797. The 
surface is hilly, the summits being 
400 to 500 feet above the valleys. It 
is well watered by the Cherry Valley 
and Red creeks, which flow^ into the 
Susquehanna. 

The first settlement was made at 
New town -Martin, now Middlefield, (lo- 
cally Clarksville), about 1760; but 
during the Indian wars of the Revolu- 
tion the place was exposed to great danger, and all the more 
so on account of the patriotic spirit that sent its best men to 
the Continental army. The towai was, in the end, completely 
depopulated, but at the close of the war its fertile lands were 
rapidly taken up by old and new settlers, among w4iom were 
William Cook, the four McCollum brothers, Reuben Reals, 
Rernard Temple, Gardner Rlair, Levi H. Pierce, John 
Parshall. David Anderson, Renjamin Gilbert. James Rrad- 
ley, Capt. Thomas Ransom and Major Jothan Ames. 

VILLAGES : There are three villages in this township, 
viz: Middlefield (population 243), Middlefield Center (popula- 
tion 108), and Phoenix Mills (poiDulation 150). Lentsville is a' 
rural postoffice. Rowerstown is a hamlet (population 70), with 
postofiice at Cooperstown. Westville is partly in Middle- 
field, with postoffice and churches in Westford. The "Index 
Knitting Mills, ' ' at Phoenix Mills, employ (including branch 
at Hope Factory), about 400 hands. 

The County Poor House and Farm are situated in this 

township, on the railroad, three miles south of Cooperstow^n. 

SCHOOLS: Number of districts, 19. Teachers, 18. Children 

of school age, 322. The village schools are graded and 

efficiently conducted. 

CHURCHES : There are three churches in this township, 
viz: At Middlefield, RajDtist and Methodist; at Middlefield Cen- 
ter, Presbyterian. 



Milford 



Area, 28,172 Acres. Population, 2,007. 




THIS township was formed 
from Unadilla in 1796. The 
surface is a liilly upland, di- 
vided into two ridges by the 
Susquehanna river, which flows 
through it in a southerly direc- 
tion. The declivities are in 
many places very steep. Crum- 
horn mountain, on the east bor- 
der, attains an elevation of 600 
feet above the valley. 

The fertile soil and excellent 
water power afPorded by the rivers early attracted settlers to 
this region. Among the leading families at Milford village 
were those of Charles Morris and his sons Richard and David, 
James Westcott, John Aylesworth, Norman Bissell, Levi Hun- 
gerford and Jonathan Sweet; at Portlandville, Thomas Mum- 
ford, Russell Briggs and Col. John Moore, the Edsons at Ed- 
son Corners, and at Colliersville Isaac Collier, his son Major 
Peter Collier, and his son-in-law, Jared Goodyear. 

VILLAGES: There are four villages in this township, viz : 
Milford (population, 532), Portlandville (population 352), 
Colliersville, (population 130), and Cooperstown Junction 
(population 115). Milford Center (population 100) is a hamlet 
with rural free delivery from Oneonta. 

SCHOOLS: Number of districts, 14; number of teachers, 
13 ; children of school age, 290. The Milford High School is 
under the Regents, and is efiiciently organized in all depart- 
ments. A specialty is made of commercial training and busi- 
ness jDractice. The faculty consists of a principal and five 
assistants. 

CHURCHES : At Milford village, Presbyterian and Meth- 
odist; at Portlandville, Christian, Episcopal and Methodist; 
at Cooperstown Junction, Methodist; at Milford Center, Baptist. 

NEWSPAPERS: The "Otsego Tidings," and "Teachers' 
Gazette, ' ' at Milford village. 




jS!^ 



orris 




Area, 24,0Sn Acres. • Population, 1,6flO 

THERE were early settle- 
ments in this region, but the 
jjresent township was not or- 
ganized until 1847, when it 
was set off from Butternuts. 
The surface is varied and at- 
tractive, rising in broken up- 
lands from the fertile vallej" 
of the Butternuts creek, which receives numerous brooklets. 
The western ridge terminates in a steep bluff bordering on the 
Unadilla river. -". ■ 

The township derives its name from General Jacob Morris, 
a son of Lewis Morris, who was a signer of the Declaration of 
Independence, and who, with his brother Eichard, received a 
patent of 30,000 acres of land in this vicinity to indemnify 
them for the loss of property destroyed by the British during 
the Revolution. 

An early and influential settler was Mr. Paschal Franchot, 
a native of France, who raised here a family of ten children. 
His son Richard was one of the leading men of his time in the 
county. He was supervisor of the township, rej)resentative,in 
Congress, first colonel of the 121st New York regiment in the 
rebellion, and the first president of the Albany and Susque- 
hanna railroad. Other early settlers whose names have been 
perpetuated are Ebenezer KnapjD, Benjamin Stone, Jeremiah 
Cruttenden, Jonathan and Ansel Moore, Amos, Jacob and Ich- 
abod Palmer, Benjamin Lull with his five sons, Benjamin jr., 
Joseph, Caleb, Nathan and William, Dr. William Yates, and 
Ziba Washbon. 

Some of the customs of those days are thus described by 
the late Ashel S. Avery of Morris, in his contribution to Hurd's 
history of the county : "It was a common thing for a shoe- 
maker (cobbler) to ' whip the cat, ' that is, go into a farmer's 



MORRIS r>7 

house, put his kit in the corner of the room, and with one 
last, made perhaps from a stick off the wood-pile, make the 
shoes for the whole family— the largest iirst, then cutting down 
the last to the next smaller size, the fariiier furnishing the 
leather. 'Eights and lefts' shoes were unknown. The shoe pegs 
were all made by hand. 

"In the square-room of well-to-do i^eople were brass- 
ornamented andirons in the fire-place. In the summer time this 
fire-place would be filled with sparrow-grass (asparagus) ; but 
after wall paper became cheap, fire- boards, with a landscape on 
them, filled up the space. It was a great invention when the 
tin baker was made; quite an improvement on the bake-kettle, 
or the board on which the Johnny-cake was baked before the fire. 

"One stage coach ran from Oooperstown to Oxford three 
times a week. It was a four-horse yellow coach, and looked, in 
the children's eyes, as large as a circus does now-a-days. The 
postmaster could have carried any one mail in his hat. The 
postage on a letter was as follows : To Garrattvsille, 6 cents ; to 
Oooperstown, 10 cents; to Albany, 12| cents; to New York, 18| 
cents; and to Philadelphia, 25 cents. There were no envel- 
opes; the sheet of paper was folded up so as to tuck one edge 
into another, and sealed with a wafer or sealing wax. ' ' 

VILLAGES : There is only one village in this township, 
viz: Morris (population, 553). Maple Grove is a hamlet on the 
southern border (population 44). South New Berlin, on the 
river, is mostly in Chenango county. 

Morris has always been one of Otsego's pleasantest villages. 
One of the best and best attended annual fairs of the county is 
that held here by the Butternuts Valley Agricultural Society. 

SCHOOLS: Number of districts, 12; teachers, 16; chil- 
dren of school age, 295. The Morris High School is the oldest 
union free school in the county. In its building and equip- 
ment it ranks among the best. Its academic department fits for 
either normal school or college, and also for professional schools 
of law and medicine. Its faculty consists of a ^jrincix^al and 
five assistants. 

CHUKCHES : At Morris, Baptist, Episcopal (with "Mor- 
ris Memorial Chapel"), Friends, Methodist, and Universalist; 
at Maple Grove, Episcopal. 

NEWSPAPERS: The "Morris Chronicle," at Morris. 



New Lisbon 



Area, 26,899 Acres PopiiLntion, l,22r). 




THIS township was organ- 
ized in 1806. Among the ear- 
liest settlers were Elnatlian 
Noble from whom Noblesville 
was named, Increase Thurston, 
Linns N. Chapin, a surveyor, 
Joseph Neff, a famous violin- 
ist, Elias Cummings, William 
Gregory, Amos Perry, John 
Cope and Remington Kenyon. 
Benjamin Cutler, a soldier of 
the war of 1812, came from Vermont in 1799. He died in Mt. 
Vision in 1871, at the age of 101 years and five months. 

Garrattsville was named for John Garratt. He and his wife 
were carried into captivity by the Indians and held by them 
seven years. It is related that when they saw the Indians ap- 
proaching their cabin, Mrs. Garratt seized her clock and silver- 
ware and fled out at the back door, concealing the silver under 
an inverted pig trough, while the clock was hastily thrown over 
the garden fence. After an absence of seven years they returned 
to find their clearing covered with underbrush and weeds, but 
there, under the pig trough, was found the silver, and down by 
the garden fence the old clock. 

VILLAGES : Garrattsville (population 253) and New Lis- 
bon, formerly Noblesville (population 169). Lena and Welcome 
are rural postoffices. Stetsonville is a hamlet with postoffice at 
New Lisbon. 

SCHOOLS: Number of districts, 16; number of teachers, 
16 ; children of school age, 263. 

CHURCHES: At Garrattsville, Methodist, United Pres- 
byterian, and an Episcopal Mission ; at Welcome, Baptist; at 
New Lisbon, Episcopal^ 



Oneonta 




Area, 21.930 Acres. Popnhition. S,mO. 

THIS township was formed 
from portions of Milford and 
Ote^o in 1830. The Susque- 
hanna river flows through 
the southern part, dividing it 
into two ridges. The hills 
south of the river, called 
South mountain, attain an 
elevation of about 700 feet 
above the valley, and 1,800 
feet above sea level. The center and northern part of the town- 
ship is hilly and broken by the Otego, Silver, Oneonta and 
Emmons creeks. It was a favorite resort of the Indians in the 
olden time, and the jjresent Main street is believed to be on the 
line of an Indian trail. 

Of white settlers, previous to the Kevolution, little is 
known. The names of Scramling, Younsr and Alger are all that 
have come down to us from that time. General Sullivan's de- 
structive expedition in 1789 broke the power of the aborigines, 
and after the war the tide of emigration was early turned to 
this attractive region. 

Among the early families were those of Henry Scramling, 
Frederick Brown, Abram Houghtaling, Wm. Morenus, Peter 
Swart,, James Young, Jacob Wolf and his son Conradt, John 
and Nicholas Beams, Frederick Bornt, David Alger, Elihu Gif- 
ford and his seven sons, Solomon Yager and his son David, Jo- 
siah Peet, Ira Emmons, and Dr. Joseph Lindsay, who was the 
first physician. 

Jacob VanWoert settled at the mouth of Otego creek, An- 
drew Parish, James Blanchard and Thomas Morenus on the 
south side near "Round Top." Col. William Richardson built 
a saw and grist mill on Oneonta creek in the vicinity now known 
as "Richardson Hill." 



60 ONEONTA 

At Emmons, on Emmons creek, then a place of some im- 
portance. Major Asa Emmons bnilt a carding and fulling mill. 
At Oneonta Plains early settlers were Elisha Shepherd and 
Asel Marvin. 

VILLAGES: There are two villages in this township, — 
Oneonta, with a i3opulation of 7,147, and West Oneonta, popu- 
lation 207. The plain west of Oneonta village, in the triangle 
between the rivers, is called Oneonta Plains. It has a consid- 
erable settlement, and a Methodist chnrch. Postoffioe, Oneonta. 

SCHOOLS: Number of districts, 14; number of teachers, 
38; children of school age, 1,683. 

CHURCHES: There are thirteen churches in this town- 
ship, viz : At Oneonta, Baptist, Free Bajotist, Catholic, Chris- 
tian Science, Episcopal, Methodist, Presliyterian, United Pres- 
byterian and Universalist ; at West Oneonta, Baptist and Free 
Baj)tist; at Oneonta Plains, Methodist, and a Methodist church 
at Richardson Hill. 

NEWSPAPERS : There are six news^aapers published in 
Oneonta, viz: The daily "Star, " and the following weekly 
papers: the "Herald, " the "Leader," the "Press" and the 
"Spy." The "Oneontan" is a monthly and is issued during 
the school year as the organ of the State Normal school. 

Oneonta Village, 

The village of Oneonta is pleasantly situated on the north 
bank of the Susquehanna river, and on the line of the Dela- 
ware and Hudson railroad, nearly midway between Albany and 
Binghamton, 82 miles from Albany and 61 miles from Bing- 
hamton. The greater part of the village lies upon a gentle 
slope that rises from the river for nearly a mile to the north- 
ward, and affords from its summit a commanding view of the 
village and of the wooded highlands that surround it in nearly 
every direction. 

Oneonta is a growing and prosperous village, and is becom- 
. ing a railroad and manufacturing center of considerable impor- 
tance. Its railroad connections are the extensive "Delaware 
and Hudson" system, the "Ulster and Delaware, " extending 
from Oneonta to Kingston on the Hudson, the "Cooperstown 
^nd Charlotte Valley" road, which crosses the "Delaware and 



ONEONIA 



<)] 



Hudson" near the village, and the "Oneonta, Cooperstown and 
Kichfield Springs" electric railroad, which is to connect at Her- 
kimer with the "New York Central." 

The "Delaware and Hudson" railroad shops at this point 
employ nearly 600 men, • and the enlargement of the plant, now 
in process of construction, will materially increase this force. 




AURELIA OSBORN-FOX MEMORIAL HOSPITAL 

Other important industries are the "Oneonta Milling Company, ' ' 
the "Paragon Silk Mills," the branch of the "Gloversville 
Knitting Company, " the "Buckley Shirt Manufactory," the 
"Dauley & Wright Marble Works." and the extensive cigar 
manufactories of Doyle & Smith, and Hayes & Bowdish. 



62 ONEONTA 

The wholesale trade of Oneonta is important, especially in 
the lines of flour and grain, groceries, crockery, glassware and 
pai)er. The "Central New York Fair" is held here each year 
in the month of September, and is always largely attended. 

The "Oneonta Building and Loan Association" contrib- 
utes to the establishment of homes by its stock loans to mem- 
bers. A s'tate armory is located here, and an efficient military 
organization maintained (Company G., 1st Reg't, N. G. N. Y.) 

The buildings of the State Normal School, which was es- 
tablished here in 1889, occupy a commanding position upon the 
eminence at the northern side of the village. It is one of the 
best equipped and most successful Normal schools of the state. 
Other institutions and societies are the "Aurelia Osborn-Fox 
Memorial Hospital Society," the "Young Men's Christian 
Association," the "Oneonta Club," and the "Woman's Club." 

The village is lighted by electricity, has an excellent water 
supply, complete telegraph, telephone and express service, and 
the principal business streets are well paved. The electric road 
extends through the village to the East End suburb, with a 
branch to the Normal school. 



The Yii.lage Schools. 

The Union Free school, which dates from 1867, employs a 
superintendent and twenty-three teachers, and has 1.125 pupils 
enrolled. The High School department, under the Regents, 
fits for college or business. It is well supplied with apparatus, 
charts and specimens for the study of the natural sciences. Its 
business course includes book-keeijing, commercial law, type- 
writing and stenography. With this school will always be asso- 
ciated the memory of the late Nathaniel N. Bull, for twenty- 
five years its efficient and much esteejued i^rincipal (1870-1895). 

The East End suburb, population 564, has a graded school 
that employs three teachers. It has a new and commodious 
school building. 

The Public Libeaky. 

The library, under the direction of the school board, [con- 
tains 6,000 volumes and receives constant additions. 



Oteso 



Area. :^(J,()S4 Acres. Population, 1,S17. 




This township was organized from 
parts of Unadilla and of Franklin, 
Delaware county, in 1822, and then 
called Hnntsville. In 1830 the name 
was changed to Otego. The settle- 
ment commenced soon after the Rev- 
olution. Among the first were Ran- 
som Hunt, of Bennington, Vt., Capt. 
Peter and Ool. Elisha Bundy, Capt. 
Elisha Saunders, Deacon Lester 
Newlands, John, Michael and Nathan 
Birdsall, Benjamin Edson, a soldier 
of the Revolution, John Blakely, Rowland Carr,- John A. and 
Andrew Hodge, Michael and Benjamin Shepherd, Sylvester 
Goodrich, John and Nahum Smith, Thurston Brown, Ben- 
jamin Estes, James Wait and Daniel Weller. 

The population in the early days was, as in Oneonta, a 
mixture of New Englanders and Mohawk Germans, and much 
rivalry and frequent fights occurred until chosen champions, 
John French for the "Yankees" and Peter Scramling for the 
"Dutch, " settled it at a sawmill raising on the premises of 
Ransom Hunt. The Yankee was the victor, and so peace was 
established. At Otsdawa early settlers were Frederick Martin, 
Nathan Emerson, King Hathaway and Henry Sheldon. 

VILLAGES : There are two villages in this township, 
Otego, (population (558), and Otsdawa (population 62). 

SCHOOLS: Number of districts, 18; number of teachers, 
20; children of school age, 319. The Union Free school at 
Otego, under the Board of Regents, is well organized for effi- 
cient work in all departments. The building has lately been 
remodeled and provided with modern furniture and apparatus. 
Esijecial attention is given to vocal and instrumental music. 
The faculty consists of a principal and four assistants. 

CHURCHES : At Otego, Baptist, Free Baptist, Episcopal, 
Methodist, and Presbyterian. At Otsdawa, Free Baptist. 

NEWSPAPERS : The ' 'Rural Times, ' ' published at Otego. 



Otsego 




Area. ■32,141 Acies. Poftiilntion, 4,407. 

OTSEGO is the oldest, 
township in the county. It 
was* organized as a part of 
Montgomery county in 1788, 
and included nearly all that 
portion of the present county 
west of Otsego lake and the 
Susquehanna river, which 
rises therein. 

Its surface consists mainly 
of a hilly ujjland, divided 
into ridges by Fly and Oaks 
creeks. The first while man who passed through this region 
was Cadwallader Golden, surveyor general, in the year 1737. Six- 
teen years later, in 1753, Eev. Gideon Hawley was sent to this 
locality as a missionary to the Indians. The next noted visi- 
tor was Gen. Georcre Washington who passed through on an 
exploring expedition in 1783, and "viewed the Lake Otsego 
at the source of the Susquehanna." 

The Indian wars of the Eevolutionary period desolated this 
whole region, but with the return of peace a tide of emigration 
set in, and the portion now known as Otsego township was es- 
i:)ecially attractive. 

This influx of settlers dates from 1788. Among the first 
were William and Asel Jarvis. who became prominent citizens. 
William was a i^hysician, and Asel erected at Fly Creek, in 
1813, the first foundry and machine shop. His three sons, 
Chester, Dwight and Kent, were leading men and active in 
the old military organizations. Other early settlers at Fly Creek 
were John Adams, Ebenezer Cheeney and Oliver Bates. 

In 1788 came also George Scott from Yorkshire, England, 
and about the same time John Patton from Perthshire, Scot- 
land. Other pioneers were Abner Pier, for whom Pierstown 



66 OTSEGO 

was named, and Major George Pier, a celebrated musician. 
Hon. Isaac Williams came in 1793. He occupied various im- 
portant oiEces. In 1813, 1817 and 1823 he represented his dis- 
trict in congress. Darius Warren came here from Connecticut 
in 1788, and was the first man who received a deed of land from 
Judge William Cooper. Erastus Taylor came from Bennington, 
Vt., and raised a family notable for longevity. 

Other early settlers whose names have been perpetuated in 
this vicinity are George Roberts, Ira Tanner, Jesse Teft, Nor- 
man and Bingham Babcock, Martin Coates, Reuben Plinds, 
Piatt St. John, Andrew Scribner, Levi Pierce, John Badger, 
Russell Williams, John Baldwin and Eleaz^ur Loomis. 

VILLAGES : There are four villages in this townshij), 
viz: Cooperstown (j)opulation 2,368), Fly Creek (population 
238), Oaksville (population 149), and Hope Factory (popula- 
tion 130). Snowdon and Bourne are rural postoffices. 

SCHOOLS: Number of school districts, 18; number of 
teachers, 32; children of school age, 803. 

CHURCHES : There are ten churches in this townshiiJ, 
viz: At Cooperstown, Baptist, Catholic, Ex^iscopal, Methodist, 
Presbyterian, Universalist. At Fly Creek, Methodist, Presby- 
terian, and Universalist. In the Hinds neighborhood north of 
Fly Creek, Methodist. 

NEWSPAPERS: "Freeman's Journal," "Otsego Farm- 
er," and "Otsego Rejoublican, " all published at Cooperstown. 

Cooperstown. 

Cooperstown was founded by Judge William Cooper, the 
father of J. Fenimore Cooper, who in 1785 purchased from 
Colonel George Croghan (who had purchased it from the In- 
dians), a tract of 100,000 acres of land lying on the west side of 
the river and embracing the site of the present village and ex- 
tending both north and south of it. He purchased this land 
before seeing it, but in the fall of the same year, he came with 
a party of surveyors, and in January, 1786, took formal pos- 
session of his property, afterwards known as the "Cooper 
patent." William Ellison, a surveyor, came the same year, 
and in 1788, under Mr. Cooper's direction, he laid out the 
village. 



OTSEGO . 67 

In 1789, a large house having been built for them, Mr. 
Cooper brought his family from Burlington, N. J., their former 
home. The youngest member of this company was the child 
James, aged two years. The name Fenimore, the mother's 
maiden name, was later added by himself. This child was 
destined to become the most famous of American novelists, and 
the place to which he thus came to be famous as the scene of 
his romantic tales. The following is from a graphic description 
of Judge Cooper's arrival written in 1871 by G. Pomeroy Keese 
esq. of Cooperstown : 

"One bright October afternoon eighty years ago, as the 
sun was drawing lengthened shadows over the landscape, bath- 




COOPER PARK, COOPERSTOWN 



ing in rich autumnal light the hills which surround the limpid 
waters of Otsego lake, there came around the base of Mount 
Vision a lumbering family coach, bearing, with its attendant 
vehicles, the founder of Cooperstown and his household to their 
new home. All the glorious beauties of the changing foliage 
which have since "charmed so many thousands who have visited 
this still rural retreat, were in their virgin splendor, and as the 
new comers looked upon the scene and beheld in the reflection 
of the lake below the dark shades of the evergreens contrasted 
with the gold and crimson hues of the maple and the beech. 



68 OTSEGO 

they must have been sadly insensible to the chief attraction of 
their future abode if they failed to see in it one of the most per- 
fect combinations of hill and valley, lake and forest, which the 
hand of painter could portray. The party, numbering fifteen 
in all, with the family domestics, was an imposing cavalcade in 

this primitive region just emerging from the wilderness 

The whole population of the place — thirty-five in all — were 
drawn xip to receive the 'lord of the manor, ' who, from hence- 
forth, as the first judge of the county and its largest landed 
proprietor, became the leading spirit of all that region." 

The village thus begun more than a century ago, although 
of slow growth, has always prospered and kept pace with mod- 
ern progress. Its streets are broad and well kept; its driveways 
along the lake and river delightful, and its campin,a: and boating^ 
facilities unsurpassed. It has an electric lighting plant, is suid- 
plied with pure water, and its spacious hotels and dwellings in- 
vite summer guests, of whom a great number are received every 
season. The work of the x^ublic authorities has been gener-. 
ously supplemented by Mrs. Alfred Corning Clark, a distin- 
guished resident, to whom the place is indebted for a beautiful 
park and gymnasium, and for the splendid edifice of the Young 
Men's Christian Association. 

To its natural beauty of situation and its advantages as a 
summer resort, Oooperstown adds the romantic interest that is 
associated with the " Leatherstocking Tales." Cooper^ 

excelled in his descriptions of natural scenery, and tlie 
reader Mdio bears his vivid pictures in mind will easily recognize 
the localities along the lake made classic by his genius. 

Cooperstown has been at times the permanent or summer 
home of some fainous men, among whom, beside the great 
novelist, are Samuel F. B. Morse, Thurlow Weed, Gen. John 
A. Dix, Gen. Abner Doubleday, Gen. Geo. C. Starkweather, 
Hon. Samuel Nelson, Justice of the United States Suj)reme 
Court, and Col. Wm. L. Stone, editor of the New York Com- 
mercial Advertiser. 

The Otsego County Agricultural Society holds an annual 
fair at Cooperstown, which is largely attended. 

Important benevolent institutions at Cooperstown are the 
"Thanksgiving Hospital," in the establishment of which Miss 
Susan Fenimore Cooper, a daughter of the novelist, was largely 
instrumental, and the "Orphan House of the Holy Savior," 



OTSEGO 



69 



which is under the control of the Episcopal diocese of Albany, 
but which receives inmates regardless of denominational lines. 

Thr Cooperstown High School. 
This institution is fully equipped for thorough instruction. 
It is supplied with all needed apparatus, and with a library of 
4,000 volumes. The academic department, under the Regents, 
prejjares for college and for law and other special courses. Tlie 
faculty consists of a principal and eleven assistants. 




COOPERSTOWN HIGH SCHOOL 



Cooper's Grave and Monument. 
James Fenimore Cooper died at his home in Cooperstown 
on the 14th of September, 1851, at the age of sixty-two years. 
Cooper sleeps in the churchyard beside his kindred, an unpre- 
tending slab marking the site of his grave. His monument is 
at Lakewood cemetery, on the eastern shore of the lake, just 
beyond the site of the panther scene in the "Pioneer. " It is 
of Italian marble, twenty-five feet high, with a figure of 
Leatherstocking on the summit. Natty is represented as load- 
ing his rifle and gazing off on the lake spread out beneath him, 
while his dog by his side watches his master with eager interest. 



Pittsfield 



Area, 22,584 acres. Population 1,101. 




PITTSFIELD was formed 
from Burlington in 1797. It 
retained its . original dimen- 
sions until 1806, when the 
present town of New Lisbon 
was set off from it. It con- 
sists mainly of fertile uplands 
lying between the valley of 
the Unadilla river, which con- 
stitutes its western boundary, 
and the Butternuts creek val- 
ley on the east. Some of the earliest settlers came from Pitts- 
field, Mass., and hencethe name. Among them were Dr. Joseph 
O. Cone, Capt. Aaron Noble and Samuel Tyler. The two lat- 
ter settled at Pittsfield village, locally called Pecktown, from 
Alvin Peck, who kept the hotel there. 

Capt. Abel DeForest, a soldier of the Revolution, was an 
early settler at Meeker Hill. Gardner Hall came from Pownal, 
Vt, in 1797. His son,Wm.G. Hall, became the leading physi- 
cian of the town. Seth Harrington and Benjamin Eddy settled 
in the eastern part about 1793. Jabez Beardsley was a promi- 
nent settler in the western part on the river. He was supervisor 
for eleven years. Caut. Joseph Briggs, another veteran of the 
war, came early from Vermont. He and his son Silas were 
prominent citizens. Other early settlers were Augustus and 
Gardner Sheldon, Ezekiel Chapin and Stephen Hawkins. 

This is a prosperous agricultural township and is chiefly 
devoted to dairying, the milk being sent either to the conden- 
sery at New Berlin or to the shipping station at Edmeston. 
It contains one village, Pittsfield, with a population of 70, and 
a rural postofSce at Ketchum. 

SCHOOLS: Number of districts, 12; teachers, 10; chil- 
dren of school age, 189. 

CHURCHES: There is a Union church at Ketchum. 
Ebenezer Chapel in the southern part is supplied by the Bap- 
tist and Methodist pastors from Morris. 



Plainfield 




Aiea, 17,142 acres. Popuhition, SOT. 

PLAINFIELD was set off 
from Kichfield in 17U9. The 
surface is hilly, the bluff's 
along the Unadilla river, 
which constitutes its western 
boundary, rising to the height 
of 400 feet. The first settle- 
ment was made in 1793, and 
the first settlers were Luther 
Smith, Elias Wright, Giles 
Kilbourne, Ruggles Spooner, 
Samuel Williams, Benjamin 
and Abel Clark. Among the most useful pioneers was Caleb 
Brown, who built the first grist mill in the town at "The 
Forks." He also built an oil mill and cloth factory on the 
east branch of the Unadilla, and a woolen factory a short dis- 
tance south of the Forks. 

A noted family was that of Parley Phillips, who came from 
Massachusetts prior to 1800, and raised here a family of twelve 
children. Joshua Babcock and his nine children were also 
prominent in the olden time. He was a member of the as- 
sembly in 1818 to 1821, and presidential elector in 1836. Aza- 
riali Armstrong came from Vermont in 1812. He had nine 
children, several of whom have been leading citizens. 

At Plainfield Center Joseph Sims was an early settler. His 
son Jeptha was the author of "Sims' Border Wars. " Joseph 
Sims jr., a grandson of Joseph, was a noted author and lecturer. 
VILLAGES : This is a fertile and prosperous township 
chiefly devoted to dairying. It contains only one village, Una- 
dilla Forks, with a population of 312. Plainfield Center is a 
hamlet, the seat of a Welc/h colony that still preserves its native 
language. Leonardsville is mostly in Madison county. 

SCHOOLS: Number of districts, 11; teachers, 8; children 
of school age, 131. There is a Union Free school at Unadilla 
Forks with three departments. 

CHURCHES : At Unadilla Forks, Baptist and Free Bap- 
tist. At Plainfield Center, Welah Congregational, with preach- 
ing in the Wel^h language. 



Richfield 




Area, 20,4] S acres. Popnhitinji, 2,r>20. 

This township was formed 
from Otsego in 1792. It then 
included the townships of 
Exeter and Plainfield, which 
were set off from it in 1799. 
The surface is rolling and 
moderately hilly with a mean 
elevation of 150 to 200 feet 
above Canadarago (or Schuy- 
ler) Lake. Several wooded 
mountain peaks near the eastern boundary rise 300 feet higher. 
Canadarago Lake, the northern portion of which is within this 
township, lies in a deep valley . and is fed by a number of 
streams which enter it from the northwest. Its outlet is 
Oaks Creek, through which its waters flow southward into the 
Susquehanna river. The settlement of this region was rapid as 
soon as the close of the Indian wars made it safe to establish 
homes in the wilderness. The northern portion of (Otsego 
county was regarded with especial favor in consequence of its 
beautiful lake scenery, fertile soil, good timber and eligible 
millsites and water privileges. 

The most important landed proprietor who located here in 
the early times was John Tunnicliff of Derby, England, who, in 
1756, purchased 12,000 acres belonging to the Otsego patent. 
In the year 1774 he made a further lourchase of 600 acres 
from the Schuyler patent, this purchase including a portion of 
the present village of Richfield Springs. 

Richfield Springs. 

The springs that have made this locality famous as a health 
resort were long known to the aborigines under the name of 
"Medicine Waters. " The following beautiful description is 
given of the original spring and of Canadarago Lake : ' 'At the 



RICHFIELD 



73 



^ 



summit of a gently-rising eminence in the mist of shrubliery, 
and overshadowed by the lofty and majestic branches of the fir 
and pine, there issued forth from beneath the roots of a gigantic 
tree a crystal mineral fountain of life and health. About three 
hundred rods to the south of this fountain was a romantic and 
beautiful lake silently sleeping in a quiet valley, skirted on 
either edge by heavily-wooded alpine ranges, whose giant forest 
trees were boldly reflected in the deep blue waters that were dis- 
turbed only by the s'creaming waterfowl or the light canoe of 
the red man as he glided swiftly over its silver surface. The 
elk, moose and timid deer drank from its silent waters in the 
wild solitudes of the primeval forest. Two wood-covered is- 
lands rested within the bosom of this picturesque lake, one of 




MAIN STREET, RICHFIELD SPRINGS 

which has since disappeared, and, as tradition says, the last of 
the once powerful tribe, the Canadaragos, sank with it far 
beneath its dark waters. ' ' 

From the discovery of these springs and their preparation 
for public use by Dr. Horace Manley in 1820 the village dates 
its fame as a watering place. The efficacy of the waters was 
found to be very great in the treatment of many forms of dis- 
ease and with every returning season the number of visitors in- 
creased. 



74 RICHFIELD 

"The location of Eichfield Springs is remarkable for natural 
beauty, not only in its immediate surroundings, but it occu- 
pies a position in the midst of the most charmingly diversified 
mountain and lake scenery. The mountain sides, in many in- 
stances, and especially where bordering upon lakes and streams, 
are jutted with immense ledges of rocks, or cut with deep ra- 
vines that assist in giving that romantic character to this por- 
tion of the state of New York which it so eminently possesses. 
Six beautiful lakes are distributed in this vicinity, almost within 
sight of each other. This was a region of popular resort of the 
aboriginal tribes of the valley of the Mohawk and western part 
of the state before the whites encroached upon it. " 

To the natural advantages so plain to the red man the white 
brother has added those of art and culture. Electricity illumi- 
nates the streets and pure water from a mountain lake finds its 
way to the dwellings. Railroad connection is now perfect on 
the north with the "Delaware, Lackawanna and Western" and 
the "New York Central," to the south with the "Delaware and 
Hudson" system by way of Oooperstown and Oneonta. 

VILLAGES : There are two villages in this township, viz : 
Richfield Springs (population 1,537) and Monti cello (population 
218). Brighton is a hamlet withpostofficeatRichfield.Springs. 

SCHOOLS : Number of districts, 11 ; number of teachers, 
20; number of children of school age 558. 

The Richfield Springs LTnion Free school has an excellent 
building and is supplied with modern apparatus, charts, natural 
history specimens and a circulating library of 1,000 volumes. 
The academic department, subject to the visitation of the re- 
gents, awards classical and scientific diplomas and has also a 
commercial course and a teachers' training class. The faculty 
consists of a principal and twelve assistants, . Total attendance 
about 450. 

CHURCHES : There are nine churches in this township, 
viz: At Richfield Springs, Catholic, Episcopal, Methodist, 
Presbyterian and Universalist. At Monticello, Baptist, Epis- 
copal and Universalist. At Brighton, Methodist. 

NEWSPAPERS : At Richfield Springs are published the 
"Richfield Springs Mercury, "weekly, and the "Richfield Springs 
Daily" during the months of July and August. 



Roseboom 



Area, 19,TS9 Acres. 




Population, 1,031. 

ROSEBOOM was formed 
from Cherry Valley in 1854. 
The surface is diversified, 
many of the hills rising to 
the height of 850 feet above 
the valleys. It is embraced 
in the original grant to John 
Lindesay, and was divided 
into the Belvidere, McKean, 
Long, and Beaver Dam jD'itents. This was the last town organ- 
ized in the county and was named in honor of Abram Roseboom, 
who with John Roseboom owned, at the beginning of the cen- 
tury, a tract of 2,000 acres lying in the present towns of Mid- 
dlefield, Cherry Valley and Roseboom. 

For many years the mercantile business of the locality was 
conducted at Cherry Valley, and it was not until 1882 that a 
store was opened within the present limits of the town. This 
was kept by Daniel Antisdel at Lodi (now Roseboom). The 
first grist mill was built by Cornelius Low in 1818. 

Among the early settlers were John Boyce, William Pesco, 
Simeon Rich, John and Peter Sutphen, Smith Hull, Peter 
Low, Daniel Clark, Solomon Coats, Rnfus Perkins, John Pear- 
son, and Isaac Keeling. Some of the early residents are now 
living nt a great age. Mrs. Mary (Keeling) Pearson at Pleasant 
Brook is ninety -five, Mrs. Lucy Boyce at Roseboom is ninety - 
three, and Dr. John W. Sterriker of Roseboom is eighty-seven. 
This is a prosperous agricultural township. The leading 
industry is dairying, the milk being sent to cheese factories. 
VILLAGES: Roseboom (population 226), South Valley 
(population 227), and Pleasant Brook (population 127). Lowell's 
Corners is a hamlet on the eastern border. 

SCHOOLS: Number of districts, 12; teachers 11; child- 
ren of school age, 148. 

CHURCHES : At Roseboom, Baptist and Methodist, at 
South Valley, Methodist, Methodist Protestant and Christian ; 
at Pleasant Brook, Methodist and Methodist Protestant; at 
Bentley Hollow, Methodist Protestant. 



Springfield 




Area, 26,522 Acres. Population, l,7(i2. 

SPKINGFIELD was set 
off from Cherry Valley in 
1797. The surface is a roll- 
ing upland. A j)romontory 
east of the head of Otsego 
Lake, called Mt. Wellington, 
rises to a height of 400 feet. 
It is a prosperous agricul- 
tural township. 
In the year 1762 five families took up lands in the town, 
viz ; those of John Kelly, Richard Ferguson and James Young 
in the eastern part, Gustavus Klumph and Jacob Tynart at the 
head of the lake. Very few additions were made to this little 
community until after the Revolution. At the battle of Oris- 
kany in 1777 Capt. Thomas Davy, who has descendants now 
living in the town, was killed. In the following year Joseph 
Brant, the leader of the Six Nations, came to Springfield with a 
party, burned the town and killed or carried into captivity the 
men, but this famoiis chief was merciful. It is recorded that he 
"gathered together the women and children into one house and 
left them uninjured— an act not followed by his tory allies. " 
On the return of peace there was an immediate influx of 
settlers into this region. Among them were Benjamin Rath- 
bun and John Cotes, who as a lad of sixteen had taken part in 
the battle of Bunker Hill, John James and Robert Young. 
Other pioneers after the Revolution were Moses Franklin, 
Abner Cooke, Calvin and Luther Smith. Elisha Hall, the in- 
ventor of the well known Hall threshing machine, was a pioneer 
at SiDringfield Center. Hezekiah Haydeu was a pioneer and 
his descendants have been distinguished elsewhere. 

VILLAGES: Springfield (population 160), Springfield 

Center (population 350) and East Springfield (population 190). 

Middle Village is a hamlet with postofEce at East Springfield. 

SCHOOLS: Number of districts, 13 ; teachers, 16; children 

of school age, 309. 

CHURCHES : At Springfield Center, Baptist, Episcopal 
and Universalist ; at East Springfield, Ei^iscopal, Methodist 
and Presbyterian. 



LofC. 



Unadilla 



Are^, 28,849 Acres Population. 2,601 




THIS towiisliij) was formed 
from Otsego in 1792. It lies 
at the confluence of the Sus- 
quehanna and the Unadilla, 
and is watered by the 
many tributaries of these riv- 
ers. It is believed to have 
been settled to some extent 
before the Revolution, but 
where or by whom is not 
known. Like all other parts of the county, it filled up rapidly 
as soon as peace permitted. 

Unadilla village dates from about 1790. but its early im- 
portance was due to the construction in 1802 of the Catskill and 
Susquehanna turnpike, an important highway which terminated 
here, the point being known as "Wattles' Ferry," from Sluman 
Wattles, a leading pioneer in that region. The village was on 
lands of the "Wallace patent. " Among the first settlers were 
Aaron Axtell, the village blacksmith, who purchased the first 
lot; Solomon Martin, a soldier of the Revolution and of the war 
of 1812, sheriff of the county and member of assembly, from 
whom Martin brook was named ; Daniel Bissell and his kins- 
man, Guido L. Bissell; Dr. Gurdon Huntington, the leading 
physician of that region and member of assembly from 1805 to 
1809; Joseph S. Bragg, whose son Edward S. Bragg, became 
brigadier general in the Rebellion, and a congressman from Wis- 
consin; Moses Axtell, one of the "Boston tea party," and a 
hero of Lexington and Bunker Hill; Stephen Benton, a land- 
holder and merchant ; Captain Uriah Hanf ord, William Wilmot, 
the first cabinet-maker, Samuel Orooker, the four Cone 
brothers. Dr. Adanijah, Daniel, Gilbert and Gardner, who, with 
their descendants, have had an important share in the develop- 
ment of the village ; Elisha Luther, John Fiske, a soldier of 



UNA DILL A 79 

1812, Whitney Bacon, David Finch, Henry Ogden, who was 
member of assembly in 1820, Niel Robinson, John Eells, justice 
of the peace and supervisor, and Calvin and Lorin Gates, who 
purchased land here about 1810. 

Among influential citizens of a later date were Sherman Page, 
an able lawyer, member of aassembly in 1827, member of the 
23rd and 24th congresses and associate judge of the county ; 
Major Christopher D. Fellows, who from his advent in the vil- 
lage at the age of fourteen to that of ninety-three, "was an ac- 
tive and intelligent force in nearly all that advanced the inter- 
ests of the place;" Dr. Gains Leonard Halsey, author of the 
"Reminiscenses" included in "The Pioneers of Unadilla, " by 
his son, Francis W. Halsey, Clark I. Hayes, whom farmers have 
to thank for improved breeds of farm stock throughout this val- 
ley : Eli C. BelknajD, a leading lawyer ; and Arnold B. Wat- 
son, than whom no more useful man has ever lived in Unadilla. 
Alike in educational, " religious and financial affairs he was 
among the first and best. 

Ebenezer Gregory came from Gilbertsville to Unadilla 
Center, where he built the stone house that is still standing. 
He reared four sons and four daughters, who with their descend- 
ants have contributed much to the social and business life of 
Unadilla. 

Among the early proprietors in the vicinity of Sand Hill, 
in the eastern part of the township, were Daniel Buckley, John 
and Aaron Sisson, Samuel Merriman and Elisha Lathrop. 
John Sisson came as early as 1790 and settled in the vicinity 
afterwards called Sisson Hill. In the same vicinity were Cap- 
tain Seth Rowley, a veteran of the Revolution and Captain 
Elisha Saunders, who was both physician and soldier, and who 
was killed at the battle of Queenstown in 1812. 

Unadilla is pleasantly situated on the north bank of the 
Susquehanna river, and on the line of the Albany & Susque- 
hanna railroad, 99 miles from Albany and 44 from Bingham- 
ton. It has a superior system of water works, with reservoirs 150 
feet above the village, and an electric light plant furnishing 26 arc 
lights for the streets, with incandescent lights for the stores 
and dwellings. It is a manufacturing place of some impor- 
tance, having a large milk condensery, a carriage factory mak- 
ing the superior Hanford carriages and wagons, a large tailoring 



UNADILLA 81 

establishment and several cigar factories. It is one of the most 
attractive villages on the line of the railroad, being noted for 
its wide and shady streets, its beautiful river view, its handsome 
residences and its well kejjt jDrivate grounds. 

VILLAGES : There are three villages in this township, 
viz: Unadilla (population 1,172), Unadilla Center (population 
73), and Wells Bridge (population 165). Rockdale, on the 
Unadilla river, is mostly in Chenango county. 

SCHOOLS: Number of districts, 18; teachers, 21-. chil- 
dren of school age, 44 The Unadilla Union Free School 
and Academy, which in 1891 succeeded the former academy, 
has a large, modern building with superior sanitary arrange- 
ments, city water and electric lights. It ranks as a High School 
under the university of the State of New York. Its course of 
instruction includes the natural sciences, ancient and modern 
languages, and a teachers' training class. It has a library of 
over 2,000 volumes, besides reference books. The Academic 
department prepares for college and grants regents' diplomas. 
The faculty consists of a principal and eight assistants. 

CHURCHES: At Unadilla, Baptist, Episcopal, Metho- 
dist, and Presbyterian. At Wells Bridge, Baptist and Metho- 
dist. At Unadilla Centre, Methodist, and a Methodist church 
at Sand Hill, in the eastern x^art. 

NEWSPAPERS: The "Unadilla Times," a weekly paper, 
established in 1851:. 




Westford 




Area, 20,812 Acres. Population, 910. 

WESTFORD was set off 
from Worcester in 1808. The 
surface is hilly, the summits 
in many places rising to the 
height of 250 to 400 feet 
above the valleys. It is well 
watered by the numerous 
branches of the Elk and 
Cherry Valley Creeks. 
The first settlers came here from Vermont about 1790. 
They were Thomas Sawyer, Oliver Salisbury, Ephraim Smith, 
Alpheus Earl, Artemus, Moses and David Howe, and Benjamin 
Chase, who raised seven sons here. Eobert Roseboom came 
from New Jersey and located in the northeastern part near 
Maple Valley. He was a prominent man and the first super- 
visor of the town, officiating in that capacity until 1814. Samuel 
and Jonas Babcock, soldiers of the Revolution, came from Berk- 
shire. Mass., in 1795 and their father Josiah joined them in 
1799. The five Sperry brothers gave name to Sperry Hollow. 
The Hubbard brothers formed the "Hubbard Settlement" and 
the Bentley family gave nametp "Bentley Hollow. " Judge An- 
drew S. Draper, former State Superintendent of Schools and now 
president of the University of Illinois, and his cousin, Judge 
Alden Chester of the Supreme Court, were natives of this town- 
ship. Other pioneers were Oliver Bidlake, Joshua and Dexter 
Draper, David Adams, Eli Tyler, Martin, John and Flavel 
Wright, Calvin Holmes, James Badeau, Charles Mason, Charles 
Webster, Eleazer Peasley, Samuel Waterman. Andrew Bice, and 
Artemas and Jonah Howe, captains of the Revolution. West- 
ford is a fertile agricultural township largely devoted to dairying. 
VILLAGES : Westford (population 167) and Westville 
(population 72). Maple Valley is a rural postoffice. 

SCHOOLS: Number of districts. 11; teachers 10; children 
of school age, 131. 

CHURCHES : At Westford, Methodist, Baptist, Congrega- 
tional, and Episcopal ; at Westville, Baptist and Methodist ; at 
Maple Valley, Christian. 



Worcester 




Area, 29,080 Acros. Popvlaiion, 2,409. 

WORCESTER was formed 
from Cherry Valley in 1797, and 
then embraced in addition to its 
Xjresent territory, the towns of 
Maryland, Decatur and West- 
ford. These towns were set off 
from it in 1808. The surface is a 
hilly upland. It is fertile, par- 
ticularly along the Schenevus 
creek and Charlotte river. The 
first settlements were made 
soon after the Revolution. 
Prominent among the pioneers was Silas Crippen. He was 
supervisor eight years, justice of the peace, judge of the court, 
and a member 6l the state assembly in 1816. He built, about 
179(3, the first grist-mill and saw-mill in the town. His son 
Phillip was the first white child born in the town. He had 
nine other children. Abram Garfield, the grandfather of Pres- 
ident Garfield, lived near Worcester and sleeps in a burial plot 
now in the heart of the village. 

Other pioneers were John Waterman, Henry Stever, Moses 
Essex, Luther, Lester S., Thomas and Deacon Joseph Flint, 
Samuel Russ, Jonathan Jennings, Amos Belding, Hazard 
Smith, Samuel Hartwell, John P. Russ, John Pratt, J. H. Her- 
rington, J.B.Hollenbeck, Green White, John Alvord, David and 
Alpheus Scott and Philip Becker. LTriah Bigelow was the first 
physician in the town. Abraham Becker, a son of Philip, was 
a leading lawyer at South Worcester. A prominent pioneer at 
East Worcester was John Champion, a native of Connecticut. 
At twelve years of age, being too young to carry a musket, he 
entered the army of the Revolution as a teamster and served in 
this capacity until the close of the war. He then married and 
removed to the town of Worcester, where he settled on what is 



84 



WORCESTER 



known as"Elliot Hill," which is now in Decatur. About 1805 
he removed to East Worcester, where he built a grist mill and 
other buildings. He raised a family of twelve children, seven 
sons and five daughters, who have numeruus descendants, among 
them a number of distinguished men. His son Aaron was the 
father of S. B. Champion, the well known editor of the Stam- 
ford Mirror. 




WORCESTER HIGH SCHOOL 



Among his interesting reminiscences of the early times, 
Mr. Champion relates the following: 

"The first doctor I remember was old Dr. Warner. He 
was one of the old fashioned kind, and did not believe in people 
continually pouring down medicine to keep well. He used to 
say that people doctored too much, as some politicians now say 
we are governed too much. Near us settled a newly-married 
couijle. The wife was as neat as could be, and everything was in 
keeping with her personal appearance. Their first-born, a son, was 



WORCESTER sr, 

kept, like a doll-baby, in the house. It did not tlirive, and Dr. 
Warner was called in to see it. He looked it over, admired its 
perfect form and features, took it up and started ont of the 
house with it. The mother was alarmed, and said the doctor 
would kill it if he did not bundle it up. It was in the spring, 
and the father of the child was making a garden. The doctor 
put it down in the newly made onion bed. The baby took up 
a handful of dirt and commenced eating it. Tlie mother was 
more frightened, but it was allowed to eat all it wanted. Then 
the old doctor left them with the remark, ' 'give it plenty of air, 
for its lungs, clean dirt for its bones, and you will have a large, 
rosy-cheeked, healthy child, instead of a poor, pale, weakly, 
emaciated creature. ' ' 

Other early settlers near East Worcester were Joshua i3ige- 
low, Joseph Bowers, James Lockwood, Isaac Caryl, Adolphus 
Gott, Calvin Jennings, Cary Pepper and Maj. Gen. James 
Stewart, whose father, James Stewart, was killed at the battle 
of Bunker Hill. His son. Dr. William Stewart, was a pliys- 
ician at South Worcester for 60 years. 

VILLAGES : There are three villages in this township, viz : 
Worcester (population 1,020), East Worcester (population 430) 
and South Worcester (population 150). Worcester is a flourish- 
ing village, provided with electric lights and with pure water 
from a mountain reservoir 80 feet deep. 

SCHOOLS: Number of districts, 15; teachers, 23; children 
of school aee, -ITO. The Worcester High School, under the Re- 
gents, has a modern building, complete scientific apparatus, a 
thorough academic course and a well selected library. The 
faculty consists of a principal and seven assistants. 

CHLTRCHES : There are eight churches in the township, 
viz: At Worcester, Baptist, Catholic, Congregational and Meth- 
odist, at East Worcester, Baptist and Methodist, at South Wor- 
cester, Lutheran and Methodist. 

NEWSPAPERS: The "Worcester Times," established 
1876, published at Worcester. 



SCHOOL OF MUSIC 



^ 



UNDER THE MANAGEMENT OF 



PROF. J. C. RINGWALD, Graduate of the Royal Conser- 
vatory of Music at Leipsic, German}^, and 

MRS. ELLIE MORRIS-RINGWALD, a Graduate of the 
Same Institution. 



BEST INSTRUCTION IN ... . 

PIANO, ORGAN, VIOLIN, HARMONY, 
VOICE CULTURE, THEORY OF 
MUSIC AND COMPOSITION. 



Mr. J. C. Ringwald is a member of the firm of DENNY 
& RINGWALD, who carry 14 Best and Standard makes of 

PIANOS AND ORGANS 

Inchiding the World's Most STEIN WAY and WEBER 
Renowned Pianos, • • • ^__^ — : — : — :_ 



14 Main Street, Oneonta, N.Y. 



214 



Geo. I. Wilber, President. E. A. Scramling, Cashier. 

Sam'l H. Potter, Ass't Cashier. 

Wilber National Bank, 

ONEONTA, N.Y. 

Capital, $100,000,00 
Surplus, $200,000.00 
Capital, Surplus and Deposits, over $1,700,000,00 



IfS^ThegTowth and prosperit J' of a community are clearly indicated by the financial 

condition of its Banking- Institutions. As an illustration the increasing 

deposits of the Wilber National Bank the past seven years 

plainly reflect a very gratifying condition: 



r)ej)osits, June JSOO, - - $748,674 87 

Deposits, June 1S07, - - $S(>],892.56 

Deposits, June 1S!)S, - - $859,404.01 

Deposits, June 18 09 - - $1,005/224,68 

Deposits, June 1900, - - $1,082,178 91 

Deposits, June 1901, - - $1,312,105.46 

Deposits, June 1902, - - $1,452,177 27' 



The Bank also enjoys the distinction of having the largest surplus 
in proportion to its capital of any national bank in Central 
New York. 



MORE THAN 130 PLACES HAVE BEEN SECURED 
BY US FOR ONEONTA GRADUATES .... 

An Agency is valuable in proportion to its 
influence. If it merely hears of vacancies 
and tells you about them, that is something ; 
but if it is asked to recommend a teacher 
and recommends you, that is more. 
Ours Recommends. 

C. VV. BARDEEN, - - - SYRACUSE, N. Y. 

H23 81 '4 












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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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